Shadows
by deluce
Summary: Written in Jades POV- they go camping for the last week of the summer, but strange things begin to happen story will probably be better than the summary... CADE friendship : Rated T to be safe Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious! Read and Review please
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one

The fire crackled and popped, smoked filled the cool night air, the sea crashed against the rocks on the shore. Cat and Tori were busy trying to pitch the tent as I watched them. She sat close to the fire for warmth, not knowing how the two girls were managing to stay warm wearing only shorts and vest tops. It was summer time in California, but the air was crisp and smelled of winter.

The reflection of the moon danced about on the dark water. I kept looking between the fire and the two girls who struggled with the multiple different poles and pegs; she could hear the two of them chuckling as they tried to make the poles fit in the wrong place. I had been sat alone feeding the fire since it had started getting dark, and now it had become the only source of light near me.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Cat bounding towards me kicking up sand as she ran, I could see her face in fires light, her lips turning a purple shade and her skin had started to become pale with the cold. Cat sat next to me rubbing her hands together and then stretching them out in front of her only an inch away from the fire. I could see goose bumps had started to form on the surface of her skin.

"We got the tent up" she said quietly, her hair blowing behind her in the summer's breeze. I turned my head to look behind me

"I see that" was all I said and I turned to face the fire once more. I was relishing in the heat from the fire and loved to be out in the nature. We both heard rustling coming from the bushes just in the out skirts of the small reservation where we resided.

We both snapped our heads to the left to see the three boys emerging from them with bits of wood and twigs in their arms. They, unlike Tori and Cat, had jackets and jeans on, as did I. I could see Cat shivering from the corner of my eye

"Did you not bring a sweater or a jacket?" I asked her in hushed tones, she shook her head before speaking

"I didn't think I would need one… it's supposed to be warm it was this morning" she never looked away from me when she spoke yet she faced her body towards the fire to warm it up. Beck, Andre and Robbie all sat beside us, and added some wood to the fire to keep it burning.

Cat moved closer to the fire as it got bigger I could see the orange flickers on her face and arms as the fire danced about on the wood. Robbie began to take off his jacket to give to Cat but she shook her head and refused his offer by saying

"I'm fine" she flashed him a smile and continued to sit close to the fire for warmth. Tori came from the tent wearing a jacket that she had not had on before the tent was put up, she came and joined us in front of the fire, held a blue cooling bag and put it on the floor near her feet, before unzipping and giving out some of the contents.

She handed us all a bottle of pear cider after she had opened them, each one fizzed and tiny bubbles spurted out of the top and popped as the hit the air, the bottle was cold in my hand and had tiny droplets of condensation that ran down the side stopping as they tried to flow over my fingers that clung to the cold glass.

Once we all had our drinks Tori lifted hers in the air slightly and said "here is to the summer" the cold caught her breath as she said summer, I took a small sip from my bottle, and the cold liquid fizzed as hit my mouth, the tiny bubbles danced on my tongue before I swallowed it

"So how did you get this then" asked Beck pointing at the bottle in his hand

"My mom bought for us, but my dad doesn't know he wouldn't let us have it, him being a cop and all" she explained flipping her brown hair behind her shoulder and giving a smug smile. The combination of the two annoyed me more than I cared to say.

"So how long are we camping for?" asked Robbie looking directly at Cat who didn't seem to notice, she was to engrossed in watching the fire to here was the boy next to her had said

"The week… I mean summers nearly over and we go back to school soon" Tori chimed in trying to take his attention away from the small red haired girl who sat to the right of me. "I brought enough drinks to last that amount of time and we all have money to buy food from the local cafés." her voice was chirpy, her attempts at stealing his attention had been unsuccessful, he only looked her way once or twice but for the rest of the time he only had eyes for Cat.

Beck kept feeding the fire every few minutes breaking bits off the twigs to make them last longer, it had gotten to the point where Cat had had to accept Robbie's jacket as the fire would no longer suffice. I sat with my knees pulled up to my chest to keep in the heat. I rested my head on my knees and closed my eyes, I just wanted to soak up everything I could hear, the waves, the fire, and the insects in the bushes; to me this was perfection.

One by one the others dwindle off of to bed leaving just me and Cat sat by the fire, she was still wrapped in Robbie jacket which hung off her loosely but seemed to be keeping her warm; she sat further away from the fire than before. I looked at the floor around us. The small area was covered in glass bottles.

"I'm going to bed soon" she said sleepily rubbing her eyes, she stood and began to move the empty bottles from the floor, collecting them in her hands. I stood and started to help her. We both heard a rustles coming from the bushes, the rustle was too big to me an animal, I stood slowly from my crouching position, and looked at Cat confused. We knew it was no one from our party they had all gone to bed long ago. I crouched again ignoring it. The rustling happened again, both me and Cat stood quickly and stayed quite still. The rustling stopped for all of seconds and started again, we heard heavy footsteps walking towards us, hitting the floor, leaves and bits of wood crunching under the weight of the person's foot. As we stood looking in the direction of the trees, a figure appeared just at the foot of them, a tall figure, broad, obviously a man. None of his features were recognisable in the dark. He started to walk towards us slowly. Both of us backed away nearing to the tent, his speed picked up, he came towards us faster than before, his footing was a little unsure, and sloppy, you could see that he was trying to be quiet and surreptitious, but it was hard given the way he was built, Cat and I made a run for our tent, diving in and zipping it up.

We heard his feet outside the thin material of the door, his breathing was heavy. Cat and I tried to be as quiet as possible. Tears began to fill my eyes, as he crouched, his hand was extending towards the zip, I felt Cat reach for me, her small hand trembling as she gripped my wrist. There was a shout that came from the direction he had come in, and like that he was gone.

Cat and I sat close to each other gripping onto each other's hand, our breathing heavy, my heart was drumming in my chest, and my mouth had gone dry. I put a shaking hand over my mouth to stop me from screaming.

Tears began to stream from my eyes, I used my hands to whip the tears away with my fingertips I turned my head to face Cat, her face had lost all expression, she just looked numb, we both sat, silently watching the door. We sat like this for hours, not daring to look away, in case he came back.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Cat and I had been sat motionless in the tent, we had been sat that long that the darkness of the night had begun to turn light with the day. My eyes felt heavy and the stung with tiredness. I turned to face Cat who was rubbing her eyes to stop the aggravation. She let out a yawn and looked at me.

"How are you?" she asked sleepily, I could see she was fighting to stay awake

"Fine, I guess, I'm tired and..." I said shaking my head, my brain couldn't process the words that I wanted to say; it was like there was a thick covering of smog over my mind. I saw her nodding as I spoke and I added "How are you?"

"The same really" her voice had lost its usual perkiness and it didn't sound as high pitched as usual, it sounded flat. "What are we going to do?" she asked trough another yawn

"I don't know" I admitted, running a hand through my hair. "What do you think we should do?" I never thought I would see the day when I would be asking Cat what she thought would be the best thing to do in situations, her ideas where never always the best and things often didn't run as smoothly as they should, but what more could I do.

"I think we should tell everyone else and then we should go home" she gave a small shrug; I scratched my head and screwed up my face.

"No... No way… I am not telling them, about last night" I said putting my hand up to dismiss the idea

"Why?" she questioned looking straight at me her eyes holding my gaze

"Because, I refuse to look weak around… that" I said motioning my hand towards Tori

"Oh, so you think that staying is a better option?" her voice had begun to speed up and it had gained back its usual pitch

"Look" I said "We are staying a few more nights" she opened her mouth to argue with me, but I held up my hand once more, signalling for her to hear me out "We stay a few more nights, okay, if it happens again, and then we leave." This to me seemed wise. I mean it did seem pretty farfetched that someone was looking for me and Cat. "Look, for all we know, he might have been confused and thought that our tent was his until he heard the voice… it was dark, he might have even thought that he knew us" I said this trying to convince Cat into staying.

"Fine" she said giving up "But, you'd better hope you're right Jade" she said standing and leaving the tent, I followed her out we were both still wearing yesterday's clothes.

She was sat where we had had the fire yesterday, bottles were still spread out along the sandy floor, and the patch where the fire had been was blackened. She sat looking in the direction of the bushes,

"You know looking over there won't help with the situation, if anything it will make it worse" I sat sitting down beside her I looked at her face and was unable to read the expression on it

"I know, but I can't not look, Jade, I am terrified, I don't know what t think… or do" she looked at me, her expression had changed from unreadable to pained in a matter of seconds.

"Well, we'll do what I said… pretend it didn't happen… And, if it happens again we will go" I said slowly and clearly, hoping she would agree, she gave me a small nod, and looked away from my face and back into the bushes.

We sat silently until the others woke up, Tori was the first one out of the tent, when she saw us she looked confused at what we were wearing, although she never said anything. All three of the boys followed her out at the same time. I looked around at the others who saw what we were wearing and had the same expression on their faces as Tori.

I stood, and walked to the tent to get changed and brush my hair. It didn't take me long to get ready, I walked back out of the tent, dressed for today's warm weather I sat down next to Beck, who was engrossed in a conversation with Tori, Cat who was sat in between me and Robbie was in the middle of a daydream, I gave her a slight nudge with my knee. When she turned to face me I pulled on her clothes slightly.

She looked down saw what she was wearing and stood up to get changed, she walked to the tent slowly and sleepily, this raised some alarm with the others

"What's wrong with Cat today?" asked Tori looking at the small red head that walked sombrely to the tent

"She's just tired" I explained "She didn't get much sleep last night she said" I looked down and drew small circled in the sand with finger.

"And how are you feeling?" asked Tori, looking at me strangely

I looked up at her stopped what I was doing and said "I'm fine" I snapped at her.

"Are you sure, you don't seem it neither of you do" her voice was soft

"Why do you care?" I asked once again my voice was harsh when I spoke the words to her. She seemed insulted but continued to pry into our lives all the same

"Because, you and Cat are my friends, and friends care about each other" she looked directly at me, the others had fallen silent long ago, and now they followed our conversation, their eyes darting from Tori to me, as if they were watching a tennis match

"I'm not your friend" I made this sentence very clear, I had said it to her again and again, but she still continued to call me her friend.

"You can say that all you want but… I'm still concerned" she said with a small shrug.

"I'm so concerned about my friends, I'd never do anything to hurt them" I said this to her in the voice I used to mock her, I could see that my comment had hurt her the way it should have

"I don't talk like that" she snarled at me, I found it somewhat amusing when Tori tried to be intimidating.

I gave her a shrug and a small false smile, I turned my head to face behind me, to see Cat walking from the tent, dressed in shorts, a plain blue t-shirt and some grey pumps, hung over her arm she had Robbie's jacket from last night . She sat down beside me and Robbie once more and held out her hand giving the jacket back to Robbie.

"No keep it, you might need it again this week" he gave her a small friendly smile which she returned she placed the jacket on the floor by her feet.

Tori looked at Cat and spoke to her "Hey, Cat, how you feeling today?" she asked this to confirm what I had already told them, Cat looked at her and spoke.

"I'm fine, just tired" I gave Tori a look that said see I told you she was fine.

"Are you sure, you seem a bit wonky?" Tori said she looked at Cat, her eyes full of questioning, I could see that she didn't trust what I had said.

"Yeah, I just didn't get much sleep last night" once again, Cat had confirmed what I had told her, I gave Tori a smug look, to annoy her even more. There was something about Tori's face that said she didn't trust us. Cat looked at me from under her eyelashes; I gave her a cheesy grin to cheer her up, I was happy to see it had worked; she gave me a smile in return. I looked up to see the others looking on in disbelief at the fact I had just smiled at Cat.

We all sat in the middle of an awkward silence, just looking around our small circle. Tori stood and looked down at us all and then said

"Does anyone want and tacos" she put her fingers in the air and made small little speech marks when she said tacos, the way she did this irritated me beyond belief.

"Not if you are going to be using that word" I said screwing up my face and then adding "What are 10 years old" Cat gave a small giggle and turned her head away from Tori.

"Well I didn't think it would be wise to use the proper word in public" Tori said sounding offended at my remark.

"Oh but bringing it out here and actually doing it in public is no problem at all?" i questioned her logic again I could see that I was annoying her, and I loved it.

"No, were going into the tent" she pointed over to it. Beck was the first to jump up

"Sure, I'm down for that." he rubbed his hands together smiling. Robbie and Andre followed them into the tent, Tori turned to face me and Cat

"Aren't you two coming?" she asked us, she looked at us like we were crazy for not jumping up to join them, Cat shook her head and looked down at her feet. Tori then turned to face me; she raised an eyebrow in questioning her hand was pointed towards the tent.

I looked towards the tent and then back at Cat before answering the question "No, I'm good"

"Okay then" Tori said a small scoff escaped her mouth at the same time.

She ran into the tent after the others leaving Cat and I alone on the beach.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

Cat and I sat quietly; I listened to the gentle whooshing of the waves as they rolled along the sea and splashed up the side of rocks, she tapped me on the shoulder so she could gain my attention, her delicate fingers drumming on my shoulder.

"You don't have to stay here you know? If you want to go join them you can" her voice was quiet almost a whisper she looked at the tent and then back to me, and sighed.

"No, I didn't want to, seriously" I stated her being honest. She ran a hand through her hair and tilted her head back letting the sun shine down on her face she flung her head back and looked at me. She gave me a small and grateful smile.

Silence fell once more around us, apart from small mindless chit chat we could hear coming from other people on the beach voices rung in my ears. Minutes had passed and we could hear laughing coming from near our tent, I turned round to see the others walking from it, their laughter getting ridiculously loud as the neared us. Tori came and sat next to me, and smiled her face beaming.

"You stink like that stuff you know that?" I said my voice sounded disgusted, I hated the smell, it was sickly sweet; it turned my stomach and gave me a head ache.

"You don't like the smell?" asked Tori getting closer to me out of pure spite.

I glared at her, tensing my jaw. "I'm not staying here I can't I feel sick" I said standing up and heading for the tent for my purse "Cat are you coming or are you staying here, I'm going to the café just up there" I pointed to the small building that had a neon blue sign proclaiming it was open.

"Sure" she said jumping up from her spot and jogging to me, we both walked steadily to the tent, once we got there I crouched down and tugged on the zip opening the door, I was greeted by the same sickly smell that had followed them.

"Jesus Christ" I said holding my arm up against my nose to block out as much of the smell as I could. We both grabbed our purses and headed back to the group, once we were in ear shot of them I called.

"That smell better be gone by tonight!" a lot of people looked over towards the four of them who sat looking at each other sheepishly.

We opened the door to the small café and a small bell at the top of the door let out a little tinkle to signify people coming and going. We sat at a small table by the window, so we could look out onto the beach.

A waitress came over to us, she was tall, thin and had piercing blue eyes that were so sharp they could cut her face was covered in small light freckles, and her hair hung down past her shoulder in ginger ringlets.

"Can I get you anything" when she spoke she had a slight Irish accent that caught me off guard, her voice sounded agitated , yet she stood smiling, showing a set of pearly white, fairly large teeth.

I scanned over the menu quickly but saw nothing I wanted to eat "Just a coffee please, black two sugars" I closed the menu and put it down; the waitress wrote down my order on a pad and looked at Cat.

"I'll have the same please" Cat said with a smile, the woman ignored it, wrote down Cats order and walked away without another word. I looked out of the window to watch the wave's crash onto the toe of the beach, as I looked out I saw the others messing around in the water, acting like idiots, i screwed up my face and scoffed. I saw Cat looking out of the window day dreaming and playing with her hair, twirling it around in her fingers.

"Here you go" chimed the waitress as she walked over to our table with the coffees, "That'll be two dollars please" she asked her voice sounding more irritated than before, I reached in my purse and pulled out a five dollar bill

"Do you have change" I said holding it out towards her, she sighed and snatched it out of my hand turned on her heel and left, she came back almost instantly and put the change on the table, I found it quite funny how she had reacted at my request for change, the term fiery redhead was definitely the case here.

"Are you sure I can't get you anything else" she questioned; I sat quietly for a moment and made a face that looked like I was pondering I kept opening my mouth and closing it again drumming my fingers on my chin. I could see the annoyance welling up inside her.

"Yes, I'm fine" I final said throwing her a smile to see how far I could push her, she turned to face Cat who still sat staring out of the window playing with her hair.

"And you?" she asked sharply making Cat look at her.

"Whatie?" she questioned with an innocent look on her face, I pursed my lips together to keep from laughing, Cat had no idea how annoyed this woman had become, but her simple minded acknowledgement had the woman balling her fists at her side.

"Can I get you anything else" she said, giving Cat a false smile her blue eyes full of anger, and I still sat with pursed lips looking down into my lap.

"No thank you" Cat answered sounding confused, at why the woman was speaking to her like this. The ginger haired waitress gave us one more fake smile before leaving. Cat looked at me confused and lifted up her hands to show innocence.

Once we had finished our coffees the same waitress came over again as she saw us standing she came to collect our cups.

"Was it okay?" she asked nastily.

"The coffee was nice" I admitted with a smile headed to the door turned to face her and added "But the service was shit" any trace of a smile that might have been on her face vanished as I said this, I gave her a smug smile and left closely followed by Cat who stood with a shocked look on her face stifling a laugh.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

It was late Wednesday night, I couldn't believe how fast the week had gone from Sunday night, we would soon be leaving again to start the new school year, the six of us sat once more around a raging fire on a cool summers night.

Cat sat huddle in Robbie's jacket once more, Tori had out stretched hands warming them next to the fire. The moon was full and bright and its reflection danced about on the waves of the sea the reflection broke up with each ripple of the water, making it look like more than one moon resided in the night sky, the water was dark and uninviting, you could tell that it would chill you to the bone to step into it. The cold air sent chills up and down my spine making me shiver.

As the night went on the others dwindled into the tent one by one Robbie first, then Beck, then Andre and lastly Tori, until Cat and I were alone once again in the cold night air. I looked at Cat and could see from her face she was in deep thought something that was a rare sight.

"What's up?" I asked her in a soft voice I looked at her face trying to see if I could work out what was going on in her mind.

"Just thinking about stuff" she didn't look at me when she spoke, her eyes just gazed into the fire I could see the reflection flickering in her eyes all I could see were the flames dancing about in her big brown eyes.

"What type of stuff?" I pressed.

"School, college, work" She looked at me, and I could see the fear in her eyes "We are in 11th grade soon… Monday actually, and that means we have to start thinking about colleges and our futures and it worries me, I don't know what I want yet" she admitted "And I feel like I'm the only one, everyone else seems so sure, you know? I mean Tori knows she wants to be a pop star, Beck knows he wants to be an actor, Andre knows that he wants to be a musician, but then there's me and I…" she sighed and shook her head.

"Yeah I know, but at the end of the day, we have until at least next year" I said this to try and calm her nerves, but I too had the same worries she did, I was 17, and I didn't know which path I wanted to follow exactly, should I choose writing, acting, singing, directing… I had all these things that I loved to do and that I had been told I was good at which gave me more of a reason to keep doing it, and soon I was going to have to pick just one, and stick to it forever, make it my life, my everything, pin all my hopes on just the one.

"To tell you the truth Cat, I'm scared too" I admitted "What annoys me though, is that when we go back to school on Monday, from then until next year, they will be telling us that we have to make all these choices, but how are we supposed to know what we want? They can't tell me that from when they were our age that they knew that they wanted to be teachers, but they'll expect us to know" I said with a shrug and it was true they would expect us to know, because that's what teachers did, the expected things from you… things that you had no idea about "Hey maybe we should just become teachers" I said sarcastically.

I stood and walked over to the water to collect some to douse the fire, I saw Cat had stood and was ready to go to bed she yawned covering her mouth with a hand that wasn't visible under the jacket she was in, I poured the bucket of water over the fire, listening to it sizzle as the flame was smothered by the cold liquid, this was a sound I loved, and I couldn't explain why. I looked along the water, and around to the other side of the beach, and there he was; the tall broad man from a few nights ago and he was stood only a few feet away from us, my heart felt like it was going to break through my chest.

"Cat, get in the tent" I said in a whisper so he couldn't hear us she looked at me confused "Get in the fucking tent" I said through gritted teeth, she followed my line of sight until she saw him too she opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out "Cat go to the tent, I'll follow you, don't look at him again" I said grabbing her hand, she walked to the tent gingerly and climbed in.

I made my way back to the tent slowly, unsurely not wanting to turn my back on the man but knowing that I had to. Once I had reached the tent I crouched to crawl in I turned my head slightly so I could see what he was doing, he was making his way over yet again, taking heavy steps over the sand kicking it up as he walked, I slunk into the tent, pretending I hadn't noticed him, I zipped up the door quickly and crawled over to Cat, who was shaking with fear. I placed my hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming as we could see the man nearing the door of the tent. He walked slowly yet again, every step he took sent shivers running through me.

There he stood right in front of the door once again his tall dark shadow stood there, the only thing between us was the thin nylon door of the tent, tears began to fill my eyes, I could feel my lip quivering, I bit it to stop the movement, my heart began to ache with fear, and it felt like it was going to just stop beating.

He had been stood there a few minutes, when there was another shout, a different voice from the last time, and from another direction, this time it had come from one of the other tents, he turned and walked away, slowly, I could hear his feet hitting the floor with force. I reached for Cat's hand and felt it tremble as I squeezed it, we were both once again sat crying into the silence of the pitch black tent.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

I looked at Cat, my eyes adjusting to the darkness, I could only just see her face and I could see streaks in her makeup where her tears had rolled down her face.

"We have to leave" I said in a hushed voice "I'm not staying here any longer, it's happened twice now" my mouth had gone dry, and I had a lump in my throat as if I was going to be sick, Cat let go of my hand, and I saw her use, her finger tips to dry her tears daintily.

"I know, when are we leaving?" she asked, her voice was only just recognisable it was barely a whisper, and it was broken up by sobs.

"Tomorrow morning" I explained "We can't leave now, because if they wake up and we are gone, they'll panic, but if we tell them in the morning that we don't feel well, and then we can just leave, they won't argue"

"So we are going to lie to them?" she questioned my suggestion before sighing and speaking again "Fine, but what do we say to our parents?" she asked a question that I hadn't even though about, what would we tell our parents.

"We tell them, that… We got bored and wanted to come home early" I suggested it was a long shot but it was the best we had, she looked at me and nodded.

My eyes had begun to sting from crying and tiredness, but it was evident that neither one of us would fall asleep anytime soon. So instead we stayed awake again and just listened to the wind rustling the trees and the waves spilling over the tops of rocks. I turned my head back to face the front of the tent, were just moments ago a man had stood contemplating opening it and crawling in.

I watched the night turn to day once more, and got changed quickly today, as did Cat, we both left the tent at the same time, Cat had a soft grip on my wrist the beach was full of people this morning. I sat down on the floor where I had sat every day so far, Cat sat beside me, and we both looked around the beach scanning the people to see if we recognised any of the figures.

Cat looked at me and began to speak "Last night, we said we would tell them we're ill right? But what about Tori doesn't she have a right to know about what's happened to us?"

I shook my head "No, we don't need to tell anyone" I said, she looked at me horrified.

"Well, what if the same happens again, she'll be in that room alone" Cat was talking to me through gritted teeth something, she rarely did.

"It won't" my voice was defiant she gave me a questioning look, I sighed and explained to her "She was out here with us last night, she was the last one besides us to go into the tent, if he had of wanted he could have come after the three of us but he didn't he made his move twice now when only the two of us were sat here" after saying this my stomach began to turn, how long had he been sat there to know both times we were alone, how long had he been sat there watching, and waiting without us noticing.

The morning seemed to drag, the only thing to do was to begin to pack our things, we took our time, being careful not to wake the others, I had everything packed and ready to go, so did Cat, the only thing to do now was to sit and wait for the others to wake up from their slumbers.

It was around ten when any movement came from the tent, Beck poked his head out of the door I turned and gave him a small smile, which he returned, his hair was messy from him just waking up he walked over to us and sat by me.

"Morning" he said shaking his head to try and do something with his hair; he ran his hands through it to smoothen it out. When he did this it always made me smile, it was something I had become accustomed to when we had been in a relationship, and was something I missed seeing him do now we were broken up.

"Morning" I said back to him, giving him another smile.

"Hi" Cat proclaimed with a cheesy grin on her face, she looked at the pair of us and raised her eyebrows questioningly, I gave her a warning look for her to stop acting that way.

"So how are you both today?" Beck said through a yawn rubbing his eyes to get rid of the sleep.

"Fine I guess, tired, and I feel a bit ill" I answered, nudging Cat slightly with my knee for her to continue with our escape route.

She nodded before speaking to him "I feel the same as Jade, I didn't get a lot of sleep again" she played in the sand by her feet, picking it up in her hands and letting it fall from them, watching it as it hit the floor gently. "How about you?" she asked friendlily, flashing him a smile showing off her dimple.

"I'm fine" he confirmed giving her a nod. Cat and Beck were probably my two closest friends out of the group. Cat had been my best friend for years, and Beck, well Beck and I had history and now we were past the awkward tense stages, we could begin to build our relationship again, and it felt nice. I wish I had just gone camping with the two of them instead.

"Me and Cat are thinking about going home today" I told him, to get it out into the open, he looked at me confused so I explained to him "Neither of us feel to great and we can't sleep when it comes to the night so were going home" he ran a hand through his hair moving it out of his eyes before her spoke.

"Don't you think you should stay, it's Thursday were all leaving soon anyway" his tone of voice sounded concerned I screwed up my face "Please?" he said playfully hoping it would win me over, and in all honest under any normal circumstance it would have.

"No, we are both really tired" I pressed emphasising on the word really, Cat looked around my body so she could see Beck who was now looking at her for her answer.

"Sorry, but I need sleep and I can't sleep here" she said, her eyes were heavy; I knew this would help our case.

"Fine" he said with a sigh "When are you going?" he asked his brown eyes looking straight at me so I couldn't not look at him.

"As soon as possible" I admitted "Probably when everyone else gets up so we can say bye" I said nodding my head in the direction of the tent where the other resided.

"Okay then" he said, leaving the matter at that. It had been a while since I had had a proper conversation with Beck, I mean we still spoke to each other and we still saw each other but not like that, not like what we had just had, and it felt nice.

Cat, Beck and I all sat round talking about the up and coming school year, what lessons we were looking forward to what lessons we were dreading you know the usual stuff. It was around 11:30 when the others got up and saw the three of us sat, around, dressed and ready for the day.

"How long have you been up" Tori asked looking at the three of us.

"Since about ten" Beck answered, scratching his head.

"About nine maybe before" Cat replied rubbing her aggravated eyes, Tori looked shocked at this and turned her attention to me.

"Same as Cat" I admitted I took a deep breath and as I had with Beck plunged straight into me and Cat leaving "Me and Cat are thinking about going home today, we both feel ill and neither of us got a lot of sleep again" I said this trying to sound disheartened about our decision. Robbie's face fell as he looked to Cat who just nodded confirming what I said to be true, Andre did the same, Tori however, looked indifferent of course she wouldn't care, she would be left by herself with the boys, all the attention on her.

"When are you leaving?" Tori asked trying to sound like she cared.

"Soon" Cat said never looking at her; instead she looked down at her feet and played with her shoe lace absentmindedly. Tori gave a small nod "We're packed and ready to go" she looked up for a mere second when she said this.

I pulled my phone out of my jeans pocket and looked at the time "Yeah Cat we better get going actually" I said looking down at my phone, I locked it and slid it back into my pocket.

"I'll help with you things" Beck said standing up, he held out a hand for me, I grabbed it and pulled myself up, letting go of it once I was stood, he put it in his pocket for something to do. I could see Cat from the corner of my eye; she had a sly smile on her face.

The three of us went to the tent and got our bags, he helped my load up the car while Cat sat in the front passenger seat looking out of the windshield

"Well bye then" he said resting his arm on my car, and placing his head on his hand

"Bye, I'll see you Monday… And thanks" I flashed him a smile showing him I was grateful, and walked to the front of my car, Beck was unmoving I climbed in and wound down the window shouting out of it "Hey, Oliver you might want to move" he smiled looked down to the floor and removed his arm from the exterior of my car, giving the trunk of it a small pat, I turned the key in the ignition and set off up the path watching him wave us good bye, in by rear view mirror.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six

The engine purred as we drove down the high way, Cat kept looking at me as I drove; she had a cheeky expression on her face her brown eyes still looked heavy but had a hint of mischief in them.

"What?" I asked, looking at Cat briefly.

"You still love him" she teased prodding me playfully in the arm, I rolled my eyes.

"No…" I started "Yes… I don't know it's complicated" I admitted looking at her once more, I turned my head back to the straight road we were driving on, I had the windows rolled down, so the wind would blow through the car and cool it down, I had tried at to have the AC on but all that did was blow the hot air around the small area making it heavy and even worse to drive in.

"Explain how it's complicated, you still love him and he still loves you" she said smiling as she spoke. I shook my head and chewed on my tongue, she was right; I did still have feelings for him

"Yeah I have feelings for him but, I don't think I would say I'm in love with him still" I confessed "And there's a difference"

"There's a difference?" she pressed I could see that this was going to be a losing battle, I could see that she didn't understand, yet I still tried to make her see

"Yeah, you can love someone and not be in love with them… And I do love Beck, I won't lie about it but I'm not in love with him anymore" I looked at her and sighed shrugging my shoulders "That's just the way it is"

"So you're telling me you wouldn't take him back?" she questioned her eyes cutting into deep into me, making me speak to her.

"I don't know, okay, I gave him the ultimatum I said if you don't open the door after ten seconds, I'm gone, and he didn't open the door. Therefore we both called it quits, I don't know what I would do if he wanted me back. But seen as though it's obvious he doesn't want me back I think we should just leave it"

"I think you do know, but I just think you're too scared to admit it, because you think it's a sign of weakness. Well it's not okay, it's understandable" I couldn't believe she was pressing this situation so much.

"Do you really want to know why I find it so complicated and why I don't know if I would take him back?" I asked, my tone of voice getting angrier as the conversation continued, I hated being mad at Cat, so I took a deep breath to calm myself down.

"Yes" she said nodding.

"It's because he tried kissing Tori, the night of the platinum awards" I admitted doing this made my heart ache "But, Tori stopped him and rejected it, because of me" I shrugged.

"How do you know?" she asked, sounding sad and regretful that she ever brought up this conversation.

"I saw them on the webcam, yours and Tori's video chat was still running, I went to your laptop to close it down and I saw it" I swallowed hard when I said this, I had told no one what I had seen, Cat was now the only one other than me who knew "And that's why I didn't perform at the awards, I let Tori do it because she did something for me" I gave her a weak smile, before going back to my normal exterior "But if you tell anyone Cat I swear down I'll get you" she nodded her head in understanding.

"I won't tell anyone I promise" she sounded legitimately sad she had made me talk about it.

"Let's just forget about it now okay?" she nodded once more, and I knew that the conversation was over.

We drove in silence until we got to Cat's house, she jumped out of the car, got her bags and walked to the door, she used her elbow to push down the door handle and pushed it with her hip to open it, no luck, she tried again and again, but it didn't budge.

"Jade!" she called over to me "Can you grab my bags while I get my key the door's locked!" she looked at me and pushed out her bottom lip jokingly; I sighed and sauntered over to her.

I grabbed her bags hanging them over my arms and shoulders, rummaged around in her purse looking for her house key, once she had unlocked the door she walked into the house leaving me with her bags, giving me no choice but to follow her into the house.

Next to the phone by the door was a small note that read.

_Hey, honey _

_Just letting you know that me, your dad and Tony have all gone to grandmas and won't be back for about two weeks, hope you'll be okay, there's money in the cupboard in the corner  
lots of love mom xxx _

She sighed and sat down on the sofa looking at me with a sad expression on her face.

"What?" I groaned.

"Do you mind staying with me for a while, I don't want to be left alone" she admitted her eyes were wide with wondering they looked enormous on her small face.

"Fine" I sighed "Let me just get my bag and text my mom okay?" She nodded, I walked to my car grabbing my things, walking back into Cat's house and dumping my bags on top of hers I pulled my phone from my pocket and wrote.

_Hey, mom __  
__I __and Cat have decided to come home earlier from camping we got really bored but I am going to stay at Ca__t's for a few days because her mom and dad and brother are away for a while__  
_I hit the send button and joined Cat and the sofa.

"Thank you" she said giving me a smile.

"No it's fine, I don't mind" I admitted, I didn't really want to leave Cat alone either, not after last night. I stood and walked into her kitchen, raiding the fridge as I had many times me before, I pulled out a can of Coke.

I walked back into the room and sat beside her on the sofa I picked up the remote to see if there was anything worth watching, highly doubtful with it being the day.

"Day time TV sucks" I said opening my drink, tiny bubbles bounced out of the top of it as the pressure was released, the can was cold in my hands and I had to put it on the coffee table in front of us because the condensation was rubbing off on to my hand, making my palm wet. Cat and I sat quietly, watching some woman on TV shouting about how she was 100% sure her current boyfriend was 'The baby daddy'.

The woman on TV must have been no older than Cat and I but there were about three people that the dad could be "What ever happened to just on guy on girl in a relationship?"

She gave a small shrug "I don't know… But she might not have been in a relationship" Cat said.

"Yeah but either way why not use protection… I know it's not 100% effective but it's safer than using nothing" I said, it was quite laughable really the situation on the TV, they were all sat screaming at each other, I had changed my mind about day time TV, when there was things like this on it was the best thing ever.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter seven

Cat and I sat for hours watching the same program; some of the things said on this program where just utterly ridiculous, it was hilarious to watch how angry people got about some of the stupidest things, which were their fault in the first place.

Cat who had gone to the toilet ran back down the stairs saying "What did I miss, what did I miss what did I miss?" she was speaking frantically.

"Well you see Melanie, is like 100% sure that Tyler isn't the dad because the dates don't fall right, and no matter what the test comes back saying Mike will be the baby's dad because he is a way better dad than Tyler could ever be!" I said putting on a ditzy type of voice, mimicking the way the girl on the TV spoke, Cat sat and chuckled covering her mouth and nose with her hand.

"This is so funny" she said childishly "How do people let themselves get into situations like this?"

"Beats me… But apparently a lot of people do" I answered her question never looking away from the TV screen; it was too brilliant to look away.

It turned out Tyler was the babies dad, she pretended to be shocked and began to cry while Mike stormed out of the studio calling her all the names under the sun, seems like a sweet guy. "Do you know something" I said "I would never go on something like this, I am sure you could have a DNA test at the doctors and that way, no one sits and laughs at while you sit on national TV and make a fool of yourself for complaining about something that is your fault and expecting to get sympathy for it… She shouldn't have cheated on her boyfriend simple as that. You couldn't pay me to go on one of these programs and share my personal information with the whole nation"

"I know right" she said scooping up a hand full of the popcorn we had just made "Is there another one on?" she asked pointing to the telly, her mouth was full of popcorn, I checked to see what was on next, we were both disappointed to see that this was the last episode for now there was more scheduled to be on later but it would most likely be repeats until tomorrow. But we were pleased to see that after the commercials there were a few episodes of 'Toddlers in Tiaras' on. The pair of us sat in silence for a few moments, my phone began to buzz in my pocket I pulled it out and read the message

_Hey, are you and Cat alright now? (:_

Cat looked at the phone and then to me "Who's that?" she asked chewing on a piece of popcorn; her hand was cupped facing upwards on her leg she had popcorn piled up in it.

"Beck… He wants to know if we are okay" I said with a sickly sweet smile, "are you okay?" I asked jokingly, she gave me an exaggerated nod so I wrote back to him.

_We are both fine now, still a bit tired but after having some food we don't feel too bad anymore._

I started to put some kisses on the end of the text, but deleted it quickly, realising what I was doing, I placed my phone down on the arm of the sofa sat back and put my feet up on the table. My phone began to buzz once more; I scooped it up in my hand and read the message

_That's good, hope you both feel better by Monday._

I smiled at the text like an idiot, and typed back

_I'm sure we will, I'll see you then. _

I placed my phone back down once more leaving my hand laid over it for a short while. I could see Cat watching me from the corner of my eye; she gave me another cheeky smile.

"Keep your mouth shut!" I said pointing my finger at her, keeping it centimetres away from her face

"I'm not going to say anymore… I really don't think I need to" she said holding her hands up innocently.

It annoyed me how well she knew me some times, at times I felt like she knew me better than I know myself.

The phone buzzed once more, I left it for a while, trying to prove to her that I didn't care about him anymore, but I annoyed me to know I had a message from him and I was too stubborn to read it. I could only leave a couple of minutes before I had to read what he had written.

_See you Monday (: _

Again I felt myself smiling at the phone screen, just holding it in my hand. I put my phone in my pocket, knowing the conversation was more or less over. I flipped some hair out of my face and tried to act collected, but because I was with Cat, I knew this would be hard.

"So" she said not looking at me "What do you think your class schedule will be this year?" She sounded cocky, she could tell what was going through my mind, yet she never said anything.

"I don't know … I am hoping that I am in classes with people I like though… I couldn't stand being in lessons with only Vega so I am hoping to god that she is in very little if any of my classes" Cat nodded

"I guess I'll be fine as long as I'm in lessons with any of you guys" she had a smile on her face when she said this; I smiled back looking away from her.

In all honesty, as long as Cat was in my lessons I would be fine, she got me through the boring ones last year and I was especially hoping she would be in my gym class, with neither of us actually doing anything it made it fun, to act up in the lesson and see the teachers getting annoyed, and I wanted, no I needed that again this year.

"Do you think we'll be in the same gym class again?" I asked rubbing my nose to relieve it of an itch

"I don't know, if they have any sense we won't be… No I don't think we will be to be honest, I guess we will have to wait and see" she said with a smile.

"Yeah, I just remember the day you got called a rude child by her and the others just stood there gawping at you" I broke down laughing "Sweet little Cat talking back to a teacher, who'd have thought it" she laughed and ran a hand through her bright red hair. I sat quietly wishing for Cat to be in all my lessons dreading the day that we would have to go our separate ways, no matter how far away that day was.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight

The rest of the week had gone fast Cat and I had spent it watching daytime TV and going grocery shopping; making fools of our selves dancing around the isles to the songs that came on the radio.

I had packed my bag and was walking to my car with Cat close at my heels. "Do you have to?" she asked pouting at me jokingly, I hated when she pulled the puppy dog look, even if it was only a joke.

"Yeah, but I'll see you tomorrow at school" I said smiling, knowing that wasn't why she didn't want me to leave, I sighed and looked at her "Look, if you need anything, give me a call or a text no matter what time it is okay? And I'll do the same with you" she nodded at me; I could see that this made her feel comforted, and it made me feel better about leaving her in the house alone.

"Well bye then" her voice was quiet and sad "I'll see you tomorrow" she threw me smile.

"You sure will, I'll pick you up at 8:15" I said, giving her a small wave before getting in my car and driving home.

The drive home was horrible; it was quiet and lonely, and driving home alone left me with nothing to do but think about what had happened, everything replaying in my head, seeing his shadow crouch next to our tent, ready to climb in and… I couldn't bear to think about what he would have done, I thought about that fact the only thing that pulled him away was the call he had received from one of the other tents.

Cat's house was only a ten minute drive away from mine, so luckily I was home quite soon. I clicked open the door and looked around, taking in everything familiar about the house, the smells the way it looked; everything, I knew it was stupid because I had only been away two weeks but I missed my house when I was away from it.

"I'm home!" I called putting my keys on the table by the door "Hey" I said to my little brother Taylor who sat playing on his Xbox

"Hey" he said his voice was monotone and he never took his eyes away from the screen, I went and sat beside him on the sofa.

"You playing on live?" I asked looking at the TV screen, watching as zombies broke through windows, and doors into a small room that resembled a theatre.

"Yeah" he said with a shrug using the same tone as before.

"Do you never play the campaign option on this game?" I questioned giving him a confused look. That's why it had been bought after all to play the game yet I never once saw him on it.

"No, what's the point?" he scoffed.

"Well, I have and I enjoyed it" I said standing up and walking into the kitchen to get a drink he paused the game and turned to face me.

"You've played the campaign?" he looked shocked at the thought of this; I took a drink and nodded.

"Oh, and by the way pausing the game does nothing… That zombie is still going to kill you" I said smugly, he turned to look at his paused game to see a zombie swiping at him, he un paused it and found himself dead, he let out a groan. I went back to the room and sat beside him. "Where's mom" I asked as I watched him just looking at the telly waiting for someone to come and revive him.

"I don't know" he shrugged.

"She didn't tell you or you just didn't listen?" I asked, and knowing him, it would be the latter. He gave another nonchalant shrug.

"Where have you been anyway?" he questioned looking straight at me, as if he was demanding an answer, from me, I hated how he had turned into the protective brother since dad left us.

"I went camping for a few days and then I stayed at Cat's for a few nights…didn't mom say" I replied with a small shrug, when I said Cat's name his face changed into some weird look of lust-he had always had a thing for Cat, ever since she first came to our house, and as he got older it got weirder-so I changed the subject; it creped me out seeing him like this "You're going to die again if you don't pay attention" I said pointing at the telly.

His head snapped away and he began to franticly push buttons again, it was obvious by watching him, he didn't really know what he was doing; he pushed buttons rapidly when there was no need to. I stifled a laugh he looked at me annoyed.

"What!" he snapped his blue eyes glaring at me, they were full of annoyance.

"No offense but you're pretty shit at this game, dude" I said laughing at him, he tensed his jaw in frustration, I loved my brother I really did, but it was too easy to tease him and get him wound up.

"Like you could better" he snarled at me he flipped his black hair out or his eyes, and continued playing.

"Actually I can do better, I have done better, you are only on level six, and you made a rookie mistake by pausing the game causing you to die… I on the other hand can get to level thirteen, and not have died once… My highest level I have ever gotten to is twenty one…But then we all died… What's your highest level?" I added the question on at then, he left it unanswered he just looked at me frustration filling his face, I stood up and ruffled his hair before speaking to him "Don't worry kiddo, you'll get there one day" I said this to him patronisingly, knowing it would annoy him more.

I walked up stairs laughing to myself, leaving him sat alone in the living room playing his game. I went into my bedroom and flopped onto my bed, how I had missed it, I mean Cat's bed was comfy but nothing compared to my bed.

I rested my head down on the pillow, wanting to have a nap, truth be told, I just wanted to sleep until morning, I found it easier to sleep at Cat's than I would have if we had still been camping, but we always stayed up late talking about random stuff, I closed my eyes ready to go into a deep sleep, when Taylor shouted up the stairs

"Jade phone!" he called "It's Cat" when he said her name his tone of voice matched the face he made when he heard her name, it made my stomach turn, I ran down stairs and snatched it from his hand.

I unlocked the screen and typed in my password, my screen informed that I had one message; at least it wasn't a phone call

_Hey Jade, I just got a text from Tori asking if we want to go to Nozu tonight, I've told her I can and she told me to text you because she still doesn't have your number… Any way are you coming? X_

Taylor read the text from over my shoulder.

"Who's Tori?" he asked looking at me confused.

"Some girl who goes to high school with me and Cat" I answered with a shrug.

"Is she hot?" he asked looking at me eagerly.

"How would I know, I don't know how boys minds work" I said disgustedly.

"Yeah but you must have a fair idea about who's pretty and who isn't" he pressed.

"I'm not having this conversation with you" I said putting my hand on his face and pushing him away from me I replied to Cat's text.

_I don't want exactly want to but I will because I have nothing else to do._

The thing was I did want to go, it's just Tori would be there and I just I couldn't stand to be around her that much, but I was bored already, and I needed something to do.

_YAY we'll meet you there at 7pm (: X_

I wrote back to her instantly.

_No I'll come and pick you up at about 6:30 tell Vega you're getting a lift with me…Can she even drive yet?_

I put my phone down on my lap and Taylor came to sit next to me, he looked me straight on in the face.

"So, you're going out tonight? With Cat…and Tori? Will Cat be coming here?" He raised his eyebrows creepily.

"You're a freak do you know that?" I said screwing my face up in disgust at him.

My phone buzzed I picked it up and read the message on the screen

_Kay kay, I have… And no she still doesn't have her licence yet (: X_

I smiled before I wrote back to her

_Ha, that's brilliant; anyway I'll see you at 6:30 _

Knowing Tori still didn't have her licence made my day, I looked at my phone for the time, it was 12:47 meaning I had to wait just under six hours before I could do something, this was going to be a boring wait, I could tell. In the house there was only me, Taylor and the sound of him shouting profanities down a microphone at people he didn't even know, what a fun time I was having.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter nine

I pulled up into Cat's drive and honked my car horn three times; she bounded from the house making sure she locked the door before she left. She gave me a wave and a smile as she climbed into my car "I haven't been to Nozu for ages" she said buckling herself into the front passenger seat.

"Yeah me neither" I said disinterested, I looked over the seat so I could reverse out of her drive and head up the street to the sushi place where Tori would be waiting. As I pulled out a light blue Pontiac cut me off speeding into view at the last minute. Jesus Christ!" I shouted breaking the car harshly.

"How do these people even get their licenses?" Cat asked franticly about the almost minor accident. One arm was laid over her chest while the other was stretched out with the hand pressed against the dashboard of my car.

"Because they don't act like that until they actually have a license and anyway most people with sports cars think they own the road" I spat as I explained to her. I hated people like that, just because their car cost more than other peoples does not give them the right to just speed past people. I attempted to pull out once more this time I was successful, and we were at Nozu by 7:00 exactly, we walked in to find Tori sat at the counter in the middle of the restaurant.

"Hey guys!" she shouted with a huge grin on her face, I crossed my eyes when I saw her face and let out a frustrated sigh. We both walked forwards to get to the table where she sat.

"Hi" Cat greeted her cheerfully, taking the seat in between us. Tori sat with a ridiculous smile on her face, a bit like the one she was wearing after She, Beck, Robbie and Andre had all gone into the tent to do what she called 'Tacos'. It was a sickly smile, almost too happy to be true.

"What!" I yelled at her, looking around Cat's small body so I could see her face when she spoke.

"Nothing, I'm just excited about going back to school again tomorrow, my second year at Hollywood Arts" she said lifting her glass of green tea as if to toast to a new school year.

"Yay" I chimed sarcastically doing unenthusiastic jazz hands, the smile on her face grew smaller, but it never faded completely.

"Well I'm excited" she threw me a glare and took a sip from her glass, before placing it back down onto the counter strategically. "I enjoy going to school" she finished her sentence defiantly.

"Well, you would" I said reading the menu that Cat was holding. Cat, Tori and I all had our heads buried in the menu when a familiar voice rang out to greet us.

"Hello and Welcome to Nozu, I am Mrs Lee." Her voice sounded cheerful, and I flicked my eyes up from the menu to see her stood smiling. She was wearing a colourful kimono; it was white and had an array of different coloured flowers on it.

"Hi!" chimed Cat, putting down the menu revealing our faces; Mrs Lees smile vanished and turned into a more disgusted look.

"Oh look, if it isn't Tori Vega and friend who left my daughter dangling from the ceiling." Her attention turned to Cat and she gave her the same look she had given me and Tori "Oh and friend who was in the play who did nothing to stop them" Cat frowned and at her and looked down into her lap.

"How many times, do I have to say sorry about that?" Tori asked her voice was whiney and her facial expression matched it perfectly.

"Until I am over it, and like I said before, I hold a grudge" she turned on her heel and walked away from us, I sat holding in laughter. I turned to the others.

"Am I the only one who finds this hilarious?" the looks on their faces told me I was "Hey maybe we should tell Mrs Lee that her daughter being hung from the ceiling was all part of Cat's idea to make my play good again" I joked, Cat smiled at me and turned one side of her lip down in a whoops type of expression, Tori how ever looked like she was actually contemplating the thought.

Mrs Lee came back moments later with three glasses of water on a tray; she placed them down in front of us with a stern look on her face.

"What can I get you?" she asked snatching the menu from Cat's hands, leaving the small girl with a bewildered look on her face, and her hands still held out in front of her as if she had the menu in them still.

"Three Spicy Tuna roles please" Cat said, looking between me and Tori for confirmation, we both nodded; staying silent the three of us sat giving her false smiles. We sat sipping at our water in silence, the last time we had been here the three of us had sat in wigs and contact lenses, because Tori wanted to know what life was like as a blonde.

"So, what lessons do you think we'll have together?" asked Tori putting her glass of water down next to the one that had green tea in it. She leant forward on the table using her arms to prop her up; she did this so that she could see us both.

I tipped my glass up so that an ice cube fell into my mouth, I started to crunch on it loudly, and spoke while it was in my mouth "I don't know, we'll probably have acting together, because Sikowitz will have found a way to keep us together" I swallowed the ice and began to talk again "But other than that I don't know… And to be honest with you Tori, I don't care" this statement was only partly true, I obviously didn't know what my lessons were going to be, and the only person I didn't care about being in my lessons was Tori, it wouldn't bother me at all, if she was in none of them, in fact I would love that.

"Well to be honest with you, I hope that the six of us have a lot of lessons together" she said this directly at me, just to be annoying. Tori turned to Cat to see what she had to say about the matter.

"Well, as long as I am with at least one friend in each lesson, I'll be fine" she admitted, taking a drink from her glass, which she held in two hands, like a child. Mrs Lee brought out our food herself, which was strange given the fact that she had waiters and waitresses that should do that, I looked down at the food surreptitiously, I slowly grabbed one of the plates, and placed it in front of me. Mrs Lee threw us a confused look and started to speak "You ordered it, now you eat it" the way she spoke to the three of us was slightly intimidating.

She turned and walked away. "Well I think Tori should try hers first… Just so we know it's safe" I said jokingly, Mrs Lee had always spoke about getting her revenge, and this seemed like a good way to do it.

"I'm sure there is nothing wrong with the tuna" she said popping a chunk into her mouth, she began to chew, once she had swallowed she clutched her throat in her hands and began coughing frantically, throwing herself back in her chair but not hard enough to make her fall off, Cat and I sat staring at her, confused.

She pulled her head back up laughing as if she had tricked us, the two of us stayed staring at her "Oh come on I didn't trick you?" she asked looking saddened

"No" Cat said beginning to eat her own food.

"Well what if I had of actually been choking?" she asked lifting up her glass to take a drink "You'd feel bad then"

"No I wouldn't because I'd honest loved that, really I would" I said honestly, she scowled at me; I would have thought she would have known by now not to ask me questions like that. I thought it was clear what my feelings about her were

"Gank" she muttered under her breath before taking another drink from one of her glasses, I tensed my jaw in frustration, and bit the inside of my lip to keep me from saying something I knew I would have regretted. The three of us sat in silence while we ate, none of us knowing what to say.

Mrs Lee came back around the corner "So how was the food?" she asked us as friendlily as she could

"It was great" said Cat with a smile that wasn't returned, I could tell that this hurt Cat because she started to frown and once again looked down into her lap.

"Well here is the bill" she said handing us a piece of paper she said it slyly; she stood and watched our faces as we read the bill surprisingly it was only fifteen dollars' worth of food. And then it was obvious her way of getting us back, would be seeing how paranoid she could get us. This in my eyes was a very clever way of getting revenge on someone.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter ten

My eyes snapped open as the sound of the annoying buzz of my alarm clock setting off, 6:30AM and I had to be up for school, I guess the good thing about today was that it meant we were one day closer to leaving. I walked downstairs into the kitchen to find Taylor already up eating his breakfast; my mom was stood fully dressed, cooking.

"Morning" she chimed as I sat on a stool at the table, I gave her a small grunt as a reply. She turned to face me and put a plate of pancakes in front of me. She sat opposite me, and gave me a smile. It was obvious she was expecting something from me.

"What" I said looking up from my plate, she still sat smiling at me, I smiled back and said "Thanks" the way I said it was snarky but it was the best she would get, and she knew that so she left it. I wasn't a morning person and trying to make me feel happy or generally feel anything other than, pissed off, tired and groggy was a waste of your time.

"Would you like a coffee?" she asked standing again to go to the coffee machine, I nodded while I chewed a chunk of my pancakes.

"Please" I said through my food, I kept checking the time on the clock on the wall, watching as the hands of it seemed to fly around, each passing minute felt like a second. The drowning ticking signalling the fact that I only had a limit of time that I could hold off getting ready for school.

My mom placed the cup in front of me; the smell seemed to liven me up more. I loved coffee having my first cup of coffee was the best part of my day, other than sleeping and eating. I drank from the cup, the hot liquid burning my tongue, making me screw up my face.

When I had finished eating and drinking, I ran up the stairs to get ready. I checked the time on my clock 7:00AM, I had an hour and fifteen minutes before I had to go get Cat. I showered, did my hair, and make up, then went to my wardrobe.

I pulled out a black skirt, some full length leggings, and a red long sleeved top, I dressed and checked myself in the mirror, I would pass as acceptable I pulled on my boots and took another look in the mirror, when I felt I was happy with how I looked, I walked down stairs, picked up my keys and headed out the door.

I pulled up outside Cat's house at exactly 8:15 like I had promised. I honked the horn three times, like always and as usual she walked out of the door with a huge smile on her face. She was wearing a pair of shorts, some blue high heeled shoes and a light blue vest top. She climbed in my car, and I waited until she was buckled in before I started driving.

I took extra care when pulling out of her street today after the incident with the guy who had been driving the Pontiac. Luckily today was easier and we were more or less out straight away. We sat in my car singing along to songs that came on the radio, singing, dancing and just generally having a laugh.

We got the school for 8:50, ten minutes spare time we walked into school to find the halls were full. This was always the case on the first day of school for some reason. Why could people be bothered to turn up early on the first day of school yet not any other time, what was the difference.

"Hey guys!" Tori called with a smile on her face as we neared them. Cat smiled and waved I however, didn't even acknowledge her.

"Hi!" I called Cat to everyone; this was responded to with waves and smiles. I put my head against my locker and sighed.

"What's up with you?" asked Beck, I looked at him and gave him a small shrug; I just really couldn't be bothered to do anything.

"Nothing… I'm going to get my schedule" I said pushing myself away from my locker. The others followed me, when I got up to the reception desk I tapped on the window to gain the attention of the woman who sat behind the desk. "Jade West, Cat Valentine, Beck Oliver, Robbie Shapiro and Andre Harris" the woman searched for the names and pulled out five pieces of paper. I handed them out to the person they belonged to.

"Where's mine?" asked Tori looking at me confused.

"Whoops" I said dryly, walking away from her. I read the schedule and turned to face the others "Hey who's Mr Miller?" I asked looking down at the piece of paper that I held in my hand.

"I don't know why?" asked Tori, who had now received her schedule.

"Well I have History with him first thing today at 9:00" I thought back to the end of last year. I was sure that they hadn't mentioned us having a new teacher my train of though was broke by Cat who pulled on my sleeve.

"Me too" she said excitedly shaking the paper she held I glanced at Cat's paper and back at mine, they were identical. This made me feel better.

"Oh I have him tomorrow just before lunch" said Robbie with a smile on his face. It appeared the other four of them had him at the same time as they all started smiling and checking what other lessons they had together.

The bell rang and Cat and I walked to room 46A each desk had room for two people, this was a new set out to usual, most rooms had only one seat per desk. We saw that Sinjin was in this class with us, we put our heads down to avoid being seen by him. Cat and I had no choice but to sit at the front, we picked the seat in the middle rather than on the isle.

The room was quite big, and had a white board at the front of the room with an array of different coloured pens that could be used for it. The door swung open at 9:03.

"Hello" he said, his voice was deep "I'm Mr Miller but if you do prefer you can call me James, I'll be calling you by your names so I see no reason why you can't call me by mine" he smiled. His teeth were perfect. He was tall and muscular, he had short black hair, and brown eyes, his jaw was defined he had a small dent in his chin. He was shaven but traces of stubble had begun to show through his skin.

"Okay so when I call out your name, speak and raise your hand so I can mark where you are sat, this will help me learn names for now"

He took what seemed like forever with attendance. The whole process was tedious; he finally got to the bottom of the list of names.

"Caterina Valentine" he said looking around the room. I rolled my eyes, there were only two people it could be, he could just ask us who we were.

"Here… But I do prefer to be called Cat" she said raising her hand smiling. He wrote on the paper marking her present.

"Okay then so you're Cat… and that must make you Jadelyn West" he said looking straight at me, flashing me a smile

"Jade" I said hostilely.

"Sorry" he corrected himself "Jade west". I gave him a small nod, "So, as I said" he began "I am James Miller and I'll be your new History teacher". He was about to begin the lesson but I stopped him.

"What happened to our old teacher Mrs Hale?" I asked. He sighed putting the blue pen back in its holder on the board.

"She quite unexpectedly" he said sitting down on the edge of his desk "So they held interviews a couple of weeks ago, and I got the job" he stood and walked over to the board once more "So, firstly we will be talking about the civil rights movement and acts of similar natures" he looked at the class as he wrote down this information "If you would like to take notes you can" the room filled with the sound of people looking for books and pens. Everyone but me and Cat did this.

"So" he started " We will be learning about these people, and what they did" he wrote a list of names of people or groups of people the list contained: Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, The Suffragettes, The Suffragists, and Ghandi.

I could hear the sound of pens scratching on paper as people wrote down the list of names into their notebooks. Mr Miller turned to face Cat and I "Are you not taking notes?" he asked sounding slightly agitated.

"No I don't need to, we haven't learnt anything about them yet, all we know is names, and to be honest I already knew a lot of those names" I admitted. Cat looked at me and nodded, silently saying that she felt the same.

"Fine he said turning away" he began to scribble more words down on the board. Lines coming from each name with small amounts of information coming off them he turned to face the two of us and smiled slyly "Now you do need to make notes" he said.

Cat and I bent down and searched through our bags, looking for pens and notebooks, we found them pulled them out and placed them on the table. Cat and I looked at each other, we could see that it would be hard to act the way we had last year. But that didn't mean we wouldn't try.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The lesson with Mr Miller dragged he wasn't as nice as he had first appeared. I had only known him an hour, but it was long enough to know he was an arrogant prick. When Cat and I finally got out we ran to our next lesson after all it was with Sikowitz. We sat down at the front of the room like usual, looked around and he was nowhere to be seen. I had been right Tori, Beck, Robbie and Andre were all in this lesson with us.

"Hey guys how's the new history teacher?" asked Andre from behind us.

"He's a douche" I said honestly, Cat nodded in agreement at my statement, the others looked shocked.

"He's that bad?" questioned Tori furrowing her eyebrows.

"Yeah, he started out really nice but then he changed, but you'll see tomorrow" said Cat; the others looked extremely somewhat depressed by what Cat and I had said. Sikowitz walked in disrupting our conversation.

"Hello everyone!" he beamed, I loved lessons with Sikowitz but then again I think everyone did "Today we are going to do an improvisation exercise. Okay so, Jade and Cat up on the stage" he said pointing towards the black stage at the front of the room.

Cat and I reached the stage and stood there looking out into the class "What are we supposed to be doing I asked?"

"I am going to give Jade a line to start the scene, Cat you must go from there until the scene is over" we both nodded in understanding "Jade your line is… 'Don't panic'" he said putting his hands on his chin. "Action" he called.

"Don't panic" I said grabbing hold of Cat's arm, she looked around flustered and panic stricken.

"Why, Why can't I panic" she exclaimed flapping her arms around.

"It's best to be calm when it happens" I explained, again she looked around panicked.

"When what happens?" she begged pretending to cry. I looked at her sincerely

"The end" I muttered.

"Oh my god, oh my god oh my god" she said, he threw herself to the floor in a foetal position on her front I looked at her confused.

"What are you doing?" I questioned.

"I'm in the foetal position, you can't get hurt if you're in the foetal position" she explained remaining on the floor.

"Oh" I said in understanding, dropping to the floor myself doing the same she did "Would it work better if we were on our side?" I suggested.

"Yeah" she agreed, we both flopped onto opposite sides of our body simultaneously.

"Excellent!" Sikowitz exclaimed, "It was really good, the way you followed each other perfectly and hung on each other's lines, and that is how to do improvisation" he clapped his hand together.

The rest of the lesson seemed to go the same way he chose two people at random to go and perform giving each pair a line to start their scene. Each person must have done at least three scenes each by the time the lesson was over.

The bell rang signalling that it was break; the six of us walked out of the room and stood by our lockers as we usually would have.

"Hello girls" said a deep voice that sounded familiar. Cat and I turned around to see Mr Miller walk past us with a smile on his face that neither I nor Cat returned.

"Who's that?" asked Tori looking at us both confused.

"That is Mr Miller" I explained pointing at him, as he walked down the corridor to his class room.

"He doesn't seem too bad" Tori admitted with a laugh.

"No one ever does" I said walking away from her, Cat followed me close at my heel as we headed down the hall to go to our music class.

"When do we next have a lesson with him?" she asked sounding depressed at the thought that he would be teaching us again, and probably for a while.

"Wednesday" I said reading my schedule "Just after lunch" I sighed and put the piece of paper back in my bag, I rested my head on the wall by the door of the class room that I would be in for my next lesson.

The bell rang; Cat and I walked into the room slowly and took two seats in the middle of the class, as a throng of people walked through the door I noticed that Robbie was in this lesson with us this year. Robbie came and sat next to Cat, which I had expected.

"Hi!" she exclaimed waving at him.

"Hey girlies" he said smiling.

"Hey" I replied unenthusiastically, I just wanted to get this lesson started, what was it with the teachers today, they had all been late so far. Anthony finally walked through the door "Sorry I'm late" he explained, obviously there was no need for his apology because no matter what we had to accept the fact he was late, another thing that annoyed me about school, if I was late to a lesson, no matter how late, I would have been put into detention, but a teacher can be late and nothing was to be said, I was really starting to contemplate the thought of becoming a teacher.

"So, welcome back to Hollywood Arts" he started "as you all know I'm Anthony, and I'll be your music teacher this year" he sat down on a small stage area at the front of the room. "So this year we will be getting you more prepped for your final exams, which means there will be a lot of theory this year"

He droned on for a while about the types of things we would learn and do this year, there would be group performances, and solo performances, which there had been every year so far, so there was no point for him to explain all of this to us again.

"Any way, let's begin" he said standing "Today we are just going to identify instruments in songs, you will identify all the instruments in a song, individually, and you will make a list of the instruments you think were used and then swap your paper with someone else's for it to be marked. He walked over to a small stereo that had a CD in it "As soon as I hit play begin, and when I stop the music you have to stop" he played the CD and again, the room filled with the sound of pens scratching on paper, along with the CD playing in the background.

It was one of the easiest things I had done; once everything was marked I found that Cat and I were the only ones to identify all the instruments right. Robbie only got one wrong, for one of the backing instruments he wrote down drums, as did a lot of other people in the room, where as Cat and I were the only ones to write bass.

I felt a strange sense of pride at getting all the instruments right, and I couldn't explain why, the bell rang once more, it's annoying chiming ringing round the room, signalling the end of one lesson, but the start of another.

I was happy when the final bell rang at 3:15, as Cat and I walked down the parking lot to my car we heard footsteps behind us, pattering heavily on the ground; Cat and I turned around and saw Mr Miller, he shot us a cheesy smile.

We just got into my car and shut all of the doors and windows. I backed out of the parking space and drove to the exit, I looked left and right before pulling out onto the busy road, the way was clear, I set of to drive, and I was cut off once again by the blue Pontiac, but this time I recognised the driver, it was Mr Miller.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

I sat in car fuming with rage, Cat sat with her hand on her chest covering her heart. Her mouth was a gape and she breathed heavily.

"I don't believe this" I said through gritted teeth "I honestly hate the man… Oh my god… I can't… I" I couldn't even begin to describe how I felt "He is so arrogant" Cat had her mouth open in shock, she shook her head slowly. I pulled out of the parking lot and drove down the road, winding down the windows when the car became too hot.

"Is your mom back yet?" I asked her, checking my mirrors, I could see out of the corner of my eye that she shook her head.

"Nope, the note said about two week, I am guessing she wrote it a couple of days before we came home, so it could be another week, could be more" she gave a slight shrug, showing that she didn't really care that much. I gave her an absentminded smile, and turned on the radio.

'Number One' by Ginger Fox started to play on the radio, Cat and I shared a small laugh remembering the night that we went to 'Karaoke Dokie' and had a competition with too tone deaf girls. Cat and I started singing the song, dancing and messing around in our seats.

"We should go to Karaoke Dokie again" she said looking out of the window.

"Cat, we were banned" I replied to her speaking slowly. She looked at me confused.

"No we were banned from singing, that doesn't mean we can't go and watch other people… And besides that was two years ago… I'm sure there over it and will let us sing again now" she made a good point; I sat and contemplated it for a while.

"Sure we'll go on Friday and try to sing, if we can't sing, I'm sure they'll be there again and we can have a good laugh either way" she nodded in agreement.

"Who else will be coming?" she questioned. I knew this meant she wanted to invite Tori out with us.

"We'll see if the others can come, if not we'll still go right?" I asked my question seemed fair. I didn't want to miss out just because the others wouldn't come, she nodded and smiled. She pulled out her phone and started to text the others making plans. After about fifteen minutes of her texting people she turned to me.

"Beck, and Andre aren't coming, Andre has to go to his grandma's, and Beck said he didn't want to because he doesn't sing much, Robbie might he doesn't know yet but will tell us closer to the time and Tori is definitely up for it" she smiled, slipping the phone back into her pocket, I remained silent and nodded, hoping that Robbie would decide to come so it wasn't just the three of us again. "Yay" she squealed clapping her hands together.

"If we get to sing I'm picking the song again" I said in a matter of fact way, I wanted to perform a song with Cat again, it had been a while.

"Phooey" she said pouting, jokingly.

"I picked a good song last time right?" I questioned, she gave me a nod. We were half way to Cat's house when I felt a tiny spot of rain fly through my window, within a minute of that happening the weather picked up and the rain started to bounce on the road and windows of my car, we both wound up the windows speedily.

"At lease this time the car's not topless" Cat joked, letting out a small laugh. I remembered the day and couldn't think why Cat could laugh at it, we had caused quite a bit of devastation that day; for one we set an old actresses house on fire, nearly caused to crashes; one by me spitting into the road and making a car swerve and the other Cat letting go of the umbrella, making another car swerve. Plus, we got harassed shortly by a clown. But I guess, that's just how innocent she was, she could find something to laugh at, I wished I could see the world through rose tinted glasses like Cat, instead of seeing it for what it really was. I looked at her and smiled.

We drove in the rain for about five more miles before I pulled into Cat's drive, she got out of the car and ran to her house, I followed calling over to her "I'm staying her for a few hours"

"Kay kay" she replied as she unlocked the door, she stepped inside and shook her head, I could hear her sodden hair hitting her in the face from the movement of her head. I sat down on her floor in front of her TV looking in the cabinet for any good films I got increasingly more annoyed as all the DVD's that were down here were Disney ones, I mean some of them were good films and I did like them when I had watched them, but I wouldn't every really admit it to anyone other than Cat.

"You found one you like?" she asked from behind me.

"Only, Tangled and I'm not in the mood to watch it right now" I admitted.

"Kay kay, do you want me to go get a musical?" she questioned playing with her hair.

"Yes" I answered making my way to the sofa

"Which one do you want?" she questioned, I sat for a while and thought of all the musicals she owned, and which one I would rather watch.

"Either, 'Sweeney Todd', 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show', or 'Little Shop of Horrors'" I said, she ran up the stairs to get one of the DVD's, while she picked what we watched I made my way to her kitchen, and got some pop and potato chips.

She came back down the stairs with two DVD's in her hand "I couldn't choose" she admitted she held up the DVD's so I could see what she had narrowed the choice down to. I looked between the boxes and though; would I rather watch a film about an alien plant that feeds on humans, or watch a film about an alien transvestite who kidnaps humans… who was I kidding the latter won every time

"The Rocky Horror Picture Show" I said with a smile on my face, she placed the other DVD box down and placed our choice in the DVD player. As soon as the opening song 'Science fiction/Double Feature' started Cat and I sang at the top of our lungs. We knew this musical word for word, and whenever we watched it, it always turned into a sing-along, this probably a main reason why no one else would watch it with us.

The sky began to get dark earlier than usual tonight, this was caused by the weather, and half way through the film Cat had to turn a light on because the bright screen in the dark room was starting to play havoc with our eyes.

During the song 'Rose tint my world' there was a knock at the door, three tiny little taps, Cat paused the film and sat in silence for a while, and it happened again, three tiny taps on the oak door of her house,

"Who is it?" she called, no answer, just three little taps again, Cat stood slowly and walked to the door, she clasped her hand around the handle and pulled it down wards slowly, she opened it until it was ajar she peaked her head around the door, there was no one in sight, from behind the door, she beckoned me over with her hand.

She opened the door wider, and showed me that there was no one there, we looked up and down the street a few times the only thing on the street was a black fiat 500 that didn't seem to have a driver in it yet the head lights were still on and I could hear the faint rumbling of its engine.

Cat closed the door and locked it so no one could get in, the two of us sat down in front of the door quietly not bothering to play the film; we sat in silence in case it happened again. But this time we wanted to see the face of the man who was messing with our minds.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

We both sat in silence; looking at each other "It' can't be him" I said trying to calm her nerves "It's just a coincidence… Someone knocked on the door thinking it was someone else's house, okay that's all… We've been home for days, nah it's a pure coincidence" I said this to try and convince the both of us "After you shouted he went away he got the wrong house"

"No, because he knocked again" she said her voice was a mixture of angry and scarred "I shouted and he knocked again… He's probably still out there" she said flapping her arms franticly.

"He won't be" I said standing slowly "I'll open the door to check" Cat grabbed onto my leg, as if it would protect me. I opened the door and looked in the direction of where the car had been, "The car is gone" I said turning my head back into the house and looking down at Cat. I closed the door, and locked it again surreptitiously "See there's nothing to worry about" I said, but I was still scared "But if you want me to spend the night here I will, I'll do it" I said

"No that's okay you don't have to I'll be fi…" Cat started her voice sounded genuine

"I said I'll do it!.. But just remember this is the second time I have done something like this for you" I said, obviously both times I had done this were of my own accord. The first time was when she had to dog sit, and I had nothing to do, and this time, it was because I was scared. I hated doing this to her, but I didn't want her to be here alone and I would rather stay with her than at my own house.

"Thanks" she said sweetly "And I know, I owe you one" she added, she gave me a small smile that said she was truly grateful; this made me even more guilty. "I'll text my mom and ask her to bring me some clothes through I'm sure she will" I said pulling out my phone "If not, you can stay at my house" I suggested Cat nodded and smiled.

_Hey mom would you able to bring me some clothes through to Cat's house please… I'm staying with her for a few more days; her mom and dad are still out of town… Also pack my DVD 'The scissoring' please. _

I placed my phone down on the floor waiting for her reply, the telly was still paused and had now gone onto the screen saver mode, I could see Cat watching the DVD symbol bounce around the screen changing colours, I had to admit, it was pretty hypnotic.

My phone buzzed on the floor, startling us both, I picked it up to read the message from my mom.

_Sure Hun, I'll be there soon, how many days will you be staying for? X_

"My mom wants to know how many days I'm staying for" I said flipping the phone around in my hand.

"Erm… Well if you stay until Sunday my mom and dad and brother should be home by then" she said in a matter of fact way. I nodded and wrote what Cat had said to my mom

_I'm staying until Sunday night, bring me some money as well, we are going out on Friday night! _

There was no time for me and Cat to become hypnotised by the dancing symbol this time before she replied

_Fine, I'll see you in about 15 minutes X_

"My mom said she'll be fifteen minutes, she's also bringing 'The Scissoring'… That is if you want to watch it?" I said rubbing the back of my head.

"Sure I haven't seen it in a while… I'll unlock the door tell your mom to just walk in" she said I nodded and sent my mom the instructions. Cat and I moved to the sofa for when my mom came with my things. Fifteen minutes later exactly, my mom walked through the door

"Hello Caterina" she said in a chirpy tone, my mom must have been one of the only people to call her this, her grandma being the other person, Cat never corrected my mom, she never told her that she preferred Cat, she felt rude in doing so.

"Hello Mrs West" Cat said with a smile and a wave.

"How are you, dear?" my mom asked smiling.

"I'm good thanks, how are you and Taylor?" Cat questioned, my mom looked happy to see that Cat took so much interest.

"We're fine thank you… Any way Jade, here are your things" she said throwing my bags down onto the floor "And here is some money for the week" she said handing me a wad of notes, which I put in my purse instantly.

"Thank you" I said dryly "Bye" I added waving at her, my mom looked shocked at the abrupt leaving sign.

"Well bye, Caterina, it was nice to see you again… Good night Jade, love you and see you on Sunday" she said looking between the pair of us.

"Bye… I love you too" I mumbled the last part so that Cat didn't hear me even though I knew she knew that I loved my family, it was just something I had gotten used to doing when I was with friends.

"Bye Mrs West, it was nice to see you too" Cat said waving at my mom as she left. Once my mom was out of sight, Cat got up once more and locked the door. "You don't have to pretend you don't love your mom you know" she said with a sigh, she came and sat next to me in front of the now, black screen.

"I know" I admitted "I just sometimes forget, I get so used to doing it" we both sat quietly for a minute, we looked at the time, it was 9:30, and after we watched 'The Scissoring' it would be nearly 12:00am, Cat and I wouldn't get much sleep tonight anyway, but the sooner we got around to trying the better.

"So do you want to watch 'The Scissoring' then?" she asked pointing at the telly, I nodded "Well then you know what to do" she said before she stood and made her way to the kitchen for food. I loved when Cat was like this, it was a side that was rarely seen, for example, had Tori been here, she would have done everything, and left Tori to do nothing, even if it was just setting the DVD player up, but not me. And that was the way I liked it.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

During the film, I could see that Cat kept looking at the door, for a few short seconds, she would then sigh and quickly turn her head back to the TV to watch the film. "Are you okay?" I asked her pausing the film I turned to face her and sat crossed legged on her sofa she looked at me and nodded.

"Fine" she said shrugging "Why?" she ran a hand through her hair.

"You don't seem fine you seem…" I stopped searching my brain for the word that would best fit her current state of mind "Distant" I finally said.

"What do you mean?" she questioned me looking confused, her brown eyes still darting to the door even when she spoke to me.

"I mean the fact that you keep looking at the door and not really concentrating on what you're supposed to be" I said with a chuckle "Don't worry about it" she looked at me and sighed again.

"It's hard though, what if that was him, now he knows were one of us lives" she confessed "And it scares me". She swallowed hard.

"Look I don't mean to alarm you but… If that was him chances are, he already knew where you lived he wouldn't just have been able to find us Cat, it's just a coincidence I'm telling you" I put my hand on her shoulder out of sympathy.

"I can't believe it though" she admitted "How about we just watch the rest of the movie" she said turning away from me I turned my attention back to the TV and pressed play, we sat in silence for the rest of the night, I didn't bring it up again because I knew I was fighting a losing battle.

After the movie had finished Cat put everything away while she was crouching down to put my DVD in her cabinet she looked up at me and asked "Are we sleeping down here tonight or upstairs?" I looked over to the door, and then up the stairs contemplating out safest option.

"Upstairs?" I said with a shrug, well it was actually more of a question, she nodded, I grabbed my bag from in front of the door, Cat scampered over to the front door to check if she had locked it after my mom had left.

It had started to rain again, I looked out of Cat's bedroom window watching the rain drops hit the window and run down the glass until they hit the window pane, I pressed my head against the window, the cold glass stung my skin but I didn't move.

I heard the bathroom door unlock and saw Cat walk into her bed room in her pyjamas "The bath rooms free" she said with a smile, I pulled my head off of the window and grabbed my things, I walked slowly to the bathroom slowly, whilst I was in there I brushed my teeth, and showered, I tied my damp hair up in a bun on the top of my head, once I was in my pyjamas I joined Cat in her bed room.

The two of us sat in her bed looking out into the blackness that surrounded us I laid down to try and get some rest.

"Jade?" she whispered tapping me on the arm.

"What?" I replied to her, my voice matched hers.

"Thanks again for staying here with me" she said, I could hear the smile in her voice.

"It's fine… Thanks for letting me stay… I didn't want to leave tonight… I didn't want to drive home alone" I admitted.

"I guessed" she said I felt her lay down too, the bed moving slightly under the weight of her tiny body. I fell asleep easier than I thought I would, but I woke up every hour on the hour, so by morning I felt like I had had no sleep at all.

"Cat!" I called up the stairs "If you don't hurry up we're going to be late!" my voice was irritated, due to not getting much sleep, but I guess any amount was better than none. She walked down stairs, her hair was down and curly I hadn't seen her hair like this for a while she was wearing a pair of jeans, grey pumps and a white top.

"I'm here" she said once she reached the bottom of her stairs, I grabbed her wrist and dragged her to my car, just as we were getting in we saw Mr Miller drive past us in his blue sports car, he had come up from the bottom of Cat's street, he gave us a snide wave and smile from inside his car.

I hated him so much, he was so arrogant, I had only spoken to him once, yesterday but I could see what he was all about, he was the type of teacher that had clear favourites from the minute he walks into his class, and if he doesn't like you the first time you speak to him,

This was mine and Cat's life for the rest of the year at least. I let out a deep breath trying to calm myself down as we sat in my car. Once I felt like I could drive I set off up Cat's street to go to school.

"At least we don't have him today" Cat said, she was obviously on the same page as me.

"No but we do have him tomorrow and then every other day, Tuesday is the only day we don't have him… Who needs to do History four day" I said the annoyance and ager was clear in my voice.

"Well at other people will have history four days a week as well" she said trying to calm me down.

"I know that, it's not the fact that we have history four days a week it's him, not everyone will be taught by him… But we are"

"So are Robbie and Beck and Tori and Andre" she said making a valid point.

"Yeah, I guess" I said it made me happy to think that Tori would be going through the same as us by the end of the day "Do they have him four times a week as well?" I asked with a grin on my face, Cat looked at me confused when she saw my expression.

"I'll text Robbie and see" she said looking away from me. It only took a minute if that, for Robbie to reply to Cat, she looked at me and shook her head "No, he has two different teachers for history, which means the others do too" we both sighed, this was a common thing for our school to do, give you two separate teachers for one subject like last year, Tori, Cat and I all had maths together and had two separate teachers, why couldn't it be the same for me this year.

"That is so annoying!" I said through girted teeth "It's not fair it's really not"

"Maybe we could ask to change history groups?" she suggested looking worried with my outburst.

"No!" I said my voice was just a little quieter than a shout "We can't"

"Why not?" she questioned looking confused

"Because, people like him would have a confrontation with you, and make you change your mind and then go back to being a dick with you… that's what people like him do" I explained. She said nothing more on the situation. We just drove to school, both of us getting equally annoyed as we thought more about how we were stuck with Mr Miller as our teacher for four days a week for at least a year.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

We pulled into the school parking lot in a space near the front. We got out of the car to see that just in front of us was the light blue Pontiac that belonged to Mr Miller, I looked around quickly but most of the spaces had already gone, and by the time we got to the empty ones they would no longer maintain that status.

"Great" I said sarcastically "This is just fantastic" I walked to the main entrance with Cat by my side, as we walked through the doors the others were stood in front of mine and Robbie's lockers, Tori stood with her back pressed uncomfortably against my locker.

"Move!" I sneered, she didn't take much persuading she pushed herself off my locker and walked over to stand by Beck. I turned to face them all when I was done taking things out of and putting things in my locker.

They all stood with moody expressions on their faces.

"What's up you're asses?" I asked looking between the four of them.

"Well we have Mr Miller today, and with what you said about him we don't want him to teach us" explained Robbie, Cat looked up at him she rolled her eyes.

"At least you only have him twice a week… We have him four times a week… Today is the only day we don't have him" Cat said, her voice sounding as depressed and moody as they all looked.

"The only day you don't have who" rang a deep voice from behind them this sound of his voice startled the rest of the group.

"Sikowitz" said Cat; I loved how quick on her feet she was, and this statement was true, it was the only day we didn't have Sikowitz.

"Oh" he said "Is that a bad thing, you sound sad?" he asked, it was evident by the way he was speaking he was trying to fool the others into thinking he was something he isn't

"Yeah" she said "He's our favourite teacher" she explained to him raising her eyebrows.

"You shouldn't have favourites" he joked the others smiled but Cat and I stood with dead expressions.

"Well we do" I said, giving him no further explanation. He smiled at us and then left for his room.

"He doesn't seem that bad" Tori said again as she had yesterday she had a smile on her face for some ridiculous reason

"You just wait and see" I said Tori's expression changed from happy to worried in no more than a minute.

The bell rang and we went our separate ways, Cat and I walked down to music once more, this was a lesson we had five days a week this year, Robbie followed close at Cat's heel like a lost puppy, I couldn't decide why they weren't together, my theories were that she was just oblivious to how he felt about her, which was pretty impossible in my opinion, he had written her a song, and had called her cute on more than one occasion, my second theory and in all honesty the most likely, she knew how he felt about her, but she just didn't feel the same way.

The two of them talked excitedly about nonsense, until Cat changed the subject to something more serious "Are you coming to 'Karaoke Dokie' on Friday" her eyes were wide with wonderment

"No" he said shaking his head "I can't"

"Oh… Okay then" Cat said "Look like it's just, you, me and Tori going then" she added with a smile, the three of us walked into the class room to find everyone there, even Anthony was on time today, unlike yesterday.

"Good morning everyone" he started "Today you will be grouping together and starting to compose your own song which you will then perform, this will be your semester project as a group, I have already picked groups for you" he said .He had gotten round the whole class before he got to us saying "So that means Robbie, Cat and Jade you're a group"

The three of us smiled happy with the way things had panned out. We sat in a tight circle with pieces of paper on our laps "So what type of song are we going to write?" asked Cat looking at me and Robbie

"Well I've got an idea…" Robbie started to explain

"We're not singing a song about broken glass forget it's not going to happen" I said jokingly

"No… I gave that up as a bad job" he admitted

"I think we should write a love song" suggested Cat "And I don't necessarily mean a slow ballad either" she explained, Robbie and I exchanged a look before shrugging

"Sure" he said I smiled letting her know we were all in agreement about her idea.

We spent the rest of the lesson talking about the melody and the arrangement of our song. We wrote down a line of notes on the score we had been given to write on.

"We will need to spend a lot of time on this" Robbie said

"You don't say" I replied sarcastically.

"We can come to my house tonight after school" Cat suggested. I would be staying there anyway the only person we needed on board was Robbie.

"Yeah sure" he said smiling from ear to ear he looked back down to the paper on his lap "Is the song going to in major minor key?" he asked

"That's something we will discuss tonight and even if we don't get that sorted out tonight we have all semester" she said sweetly

"So basically the only thing we know for sure is that you two will be singing and I'll be playing the guitar?" he asked making sure we were all on the same page

"Yup pretty much" I said "So we know it's an acoustic track… with female vocals so we need to look at the key that Cat and I sing best in to find out how we can harmonise best… so we might have to work out octaves as well" I admitted I had never thought about a single project so much in one day.

"This is going to be hard work" said Robbie putting his head back.

"We'll be fine" Cat said calmingly "We have a whole semester to work on this" even though she tried to calm us you could tell that the ordeal was stressing her out too, the bell chimed through the school, the three of us stood and left the room rubbing our heads out of stress. This was going to be one of the hardest things I had ever done, it would be fun, but challenging.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Robbie, Cat and I all got out of the car and walked into Cats house, it was clear from Robbie face that he had never been here before, we all usually met up at Tori's house, he looked around the room taking in every little detail.

"Nice house" Robbie complemented her with a smile.

"Thanks" she replied pushing the coffee table forward a little bit to make more room for us to sit and do our work.

"I'm getting a drink" I stated leaving them alone in the room, as I searched through the fridge I could hear her talking to him

"If you want anything just go get it you don't need to ask" she told him

"Okay thanks" he said

I walked back into the room and sat opposite the two of them at the table.

"So where do we start?" I asked looking at Robbie, he had written more songs out of the three of us Cat and I just usually performed songs that had been written.

"Well usually I would write the music and then move onto the lyrics but we can do whatever you want" he explained.

"So if you write the music, and Cat and I write the lyrics we should be fine" I said "You write the music and show us it by playing it, I'll record it then Cat and I can write some lyrics, then we will work as a group to change bits we don't like" I said looking at the two of them who were now sat smiling.

"So we will make some note together now" Cat said "And then we will start thinking about things to write"

"Sounds good to me girly" said Robbie playfully, we sat discussing things that you needed to write a song as research was going to be needed in this assignment, we looked at already existing songs to see which ones made number one singles and which ones bombed.

"We are still no clearer on what type of song to write" I said standing to get some food, Robbie followed me into the kitchen and started looking in her cupboards.

"What are you looking for?" I asked turning my head to face him.

"I want a drink, I'm looking for a glass" he said still rummaging through her cupboards.

"Here" I said handing him a can of Coke from the fridge "You don't need a glass"

"Thanks" he said looking confused; I turned and shut the fridge door with two other cans in my hand.

"What?" I asked

"You're being nice why?" he arched his eyebrow in confusion

"You know I can be nice sometimes" I said walking away from him I took his place sitting next to Cat, he walked into the room and looked put out by my decision, he was forced to sit opposite us now

"So what did you get while we were in there?" I asked Cat.

"I drew a picture of a giraffe" she said smiling I rubbed my head.

"Oh, it's good" I said complementing her on her work, she giggled and turned to her paper once more. "But, we really should get some work done" I said to me pulling away her drawing and getting her a fresh piece of paper.

"Kay kay" she said losing some enthusiasm in her voice.

We must have been sat for a few hours struggling to write anything, there was no use we couldn't seem to agree on much other than who would be writing what. Robbie checked his phone and saw that it was nearly 6:00 and that we had been doing this for almost three hours.

"I better get going" he said frowning, we had all come to Cat's house in my car so the three of us, walked out Cat got in the front as she always did, Robbie was left sitting in the back. It was a short drive to Robbie house from Cat's only about fifteen minutes.

"Bye then Rob" I said as he climbed out of my car.

"Bye… Thanks Jade for the lift home and Cat thanks for letting me come over to you house to do some work"

"It's okay I don't mind we should do it again tomorrow" she said enthusiastically, Robbie smiled a great big smile from ear to ear, I had a feeling she had given him the wrong impression "Bye" she said waving at him.

I drove off of his street quickly "Cat, I think you might be giving him the wrong impression" I said getting it out in the open.

"What do you mean?" she asked looking sad and confused all at the same time.

"He likes you and you keep inviting him places, do you even like him?" I asked her

"Yeah of course I do he's my best friend… Other than you" she said looking at me as if I was stupid.

"No Cat, I mean he really likes you… Like he wants you to be his girlfriend" I explained to her, I said it slowly to give her a better understanding of the situation.

"Oh" she said looking away from me her facial expression said that she already had inklings that this was true

"Well do you like him?" I asked her seriously

"I don't know I think so" she said with a shrug

"Well then you need to talk to him" I said "Invite him somewhere just the two of you"

"I will if you talk to Beck, he still loves you and you still love him" she said smiling.

"Cat it is totally different okay Beck tried to kiss Tori he's over me" I said frowning

"Robbie has tried to get together with Tori and Trina as well; in fact you're the only girl out of our group he hasn't tried to get with" I knew she was right in what she was saying but I couldn't admit it not yet anyway.

It wasn't long before we pulled back into Cat's drive, they sky was lighter than it had been last night but it still wasn't light, the moon was just coming into view, it was a thin crescent in the sky, a new moon it was pale as of now, slightly faded.

Cat walked into the house first, I was still looking up at the moon in ore at it. "Jade!" Cat called from inside the house, the sound of her voice snapped me out of my trance.

"What?" I asked as I entered her living room shutting and locking the door behind me.

"Do you want to order a Chinese tonight… I don't want to cook anything" she said

"Yeah sure, we can watch a movie too then… I'll order it now" I smiled picking up the phone and punching in the number of the take away.

"Hi" I said trying to sound as friendly as possible "I'd like to place an order for delivery please"

Form the other end of the phone the woman asked what I wanted

"Cat, what do you want?" I called turning my head away from the phone

"Noodles and egg rolls" she replied childishly

"Can I have two portions of noodles and egg rolls please and some chicken curry?" I waited while she wrote down my order. From the other end of the phone she told me that it would take 30-45 minutes for our food, I hung up the phone knowing they would take Cat's details using the phone number I had rung from, it was a new system they had that way you didn't have to tell them where you lived.

"It will be about half an hour" I said sitting next to Cat who had a big grin on her face "What?" I asked freaked out by her.

"Guess what we're watching tonight" she said almost singing the last word.

"What?" I asked "It better not be 'The Little Mermaid'" I said nastily, seriously in my opinion it was one of the worst films ever, and I could only watch so much of it before I fell asleep out of boredom, the only good thing about the movie was Ursula and the song that she sang 'Poor unfortunate souls' but then again I loved all the Disney villains always had.

"No we're going to watch 'Tangled'" she said prodding me in the arm teasingly, she knew I liked that movie and she knew I would want to watch it, because everything about it I enjoyed and I hated myself for it, I really did.

"Oh okay" I replied she smiled at me, she had always known that I liked the film but this was the first time I had never really fought her about watching it.

"I knew you liked it" she said triumphantly I let out a small laugh "I'm going to put it on when the food comes" she explained "That way we don't have to break off for anything, we can sit and eat and watch the movie"

"Sound fun" I admitted. We both stayed talking for a while, Cat kept checking the time and I'd go check the door to see if they had knocked but we hadn't heard them, about 40 minutes after I had rung for our food there was a knock at the door, a heavy knock, not like the one that had occurred last night.

I opened the door with cash already in my hand "Thanks" I said "What do I owe you?"

The delivery boy looked up from the floor when he heard me speak, his eyes were like lumps of coal they were so dark, his hair was short and curly, his skins was the same shade as cinnamon, his lips curled up revealing a set of teeth so white they were like pearls, he had a small amount of stubble around his chin and jaw; he was undoubtedly gorgeous he must have been about nineteen if not twenty.

"Hey" he said his voice was soft and deep "That'll be ten dollars please" his smile never faded I gave him one in return, I heard Cat shift in her seat so she could see the boy at the door; I turned my head to face her and she sat with her mouth open silently saying she thought he was hot I mouthed and 'I know' at her I turned my head back around to face him; I handed him the money

"Thanks again" I said still smiling at him.

"No problem I hope you enjoy it" he said in his silky smooth voice. I closed the door until it was ajar and I watched him surreptitiously as he walked down the drive, I closed the door the rest of the way with my hip. I turned around and saw Cat looking at me with a cheeky smile on her face; she moved her eyebrows suggestively. I went to sit by Cat placing the tubs out on the table in front of us

"Go get some plates" I said when I was done watching the delivery boy walking away. While she was in the kitchen I set up the DVD player ready to watch 'Tangled' Cat came into the room with some drinks and plates, she sat and watched me as I put out the food, I could see her from the corner of my eye playing with her hair.

Once the food was out on the plates Cat pushed play and the film started up, I instantly started to regret wanting to watch this film as I knew for a fact that the songs would be stuck in my head for days, they always were.

The first song 'Rapunzel' sings started and that was it, all my inhibitions went out of the window and just like with 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' I found myself singing along to the film with Cat, knowing all the words by heart, and in all honesty I loved it.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The movie was over we had eaten our dinner and now we sat searching for things to watch on TV unfortunately there was nothing on

"Do you want to watch another movie?" she asked yawning out of sheer boredom; she shrugged her small shoulders indifferently. I nodded closing my eyes and opening them again widely to try and wake myself up Cat vanished up the stairs for a few minutes. I could tell that if I didn't do something soon I would be asleep within minutes. Cat bounded back down the stairs; her feet banging on them as she ran it was surprising that someone so small could be so noisy.

"Okay so here are the DVD choices" she said handing me two boxes, one of them was 'Mean Girls' the other was 'It's a Boy Girl thing'.

"Erm I don't know" I said handing them back to her "You pick" she took the boxes from my hand and opened the one containing 'Mean Girls' it was an obvious choice for her. Well it was an obvious choice for most girls.

She put it in the DVD player and came to sit next to me once more; she hit play almost instantly when the DVD menu came up on the screen the two of us sat back and watched the movie in silence; it's odd no matter how many times you watch this film it still makes you laugh and you could never get bored of it, these types of movies are the best types of movies.

Once the movie had finished I checked the time on my phone it was 10:35 I couldn't believe how much time had been spent in between the two films what with waiting for our dinner and then washing up.

"What are going to watch now?" I asked looking at Cat who was curled up in a small ball on the sofa; she shrugged and then sat up properly

"Have a look to see what's" she said leaving the room for a drink, I sat flicking through the channels and to my despair I found nothing worth watching

"Nothing on" I said throwing the remote onto the sofa next to me.

"Go to bed then" she said, the way she spoke made it sound like it was the obvious option "I'm going once I've finished this" she said taking a drink from her glass.

"Yeah I guess… Night then" I said walking up the stairs, in the time it took Cat to finish her drink I had showered dried my hair brushed my teeth and got undressed for bed, she must have been watching the TV as well because there is no way it took her that amount of time to have a drink.

I was on the verge of falling asleep when Cat bounded into her bedroom turning the light on and diving on the bed

"Cat!" I yelled "What are you doing?" I sat up and rubbed my eyes my heart pounding in my chest.

"I came to bed" she explained innocently.

I glared at her and tensed my jaw "Why did you turn the light on and jump on the bed?" I questioned.

"I was bored" she said absentmindedly.

"Well turn the light off and go to sleep" I growled.

"Kay kay" she replied getting out of bed and shuffling over to her light switch, she got back into bed more calmly "Night" her voice was sweet and calm when she said this

"Night, Cat" I said, all the anger slipping from my body, it was hard to be mad at her when she acted like this.

The alarm rang loudly the next morning, I was a wake but didn't open my eyes, I wanted to rest just a bit longer, Cat picked up her phone to dismiss the alarm, but she seemed to look at the screen for a while, contemplating what to do, in the end she decided that the best option was to just turn it off rather than put it on snooze.

I could hear her moving around the house, once she was out of bed she gave me a nudge with her elbow, I didn't move, I didn't even groan I just couldn't be bothered to do anything, she nudged me again and again, but I remained still.

It wasn't long before Cat tried a different approach, she ran from her door way to the bed throwing herself at it; causing the mattress to move up and down I had had enough of her shenanigans so I opened my eyes and glared at her.

"What?" I snapped.

"Get up we have school" she said grabbing hold of one of my arms, trying to pull me from the bed, did she really think that she would be able to move me, I was taller than Cat, and she wasn't the strongest of people anyway, in the end I gave up, I shook her hand from my arm and got up myself.

"I know we have school but I don't want to go today, or tomorrow, or the day after that" I said straightening out my pyjama top.

"Why not?" she questioned, her expression looked worried.

"Because Cat, we now have Mr Miller three days in a row" I snarled.

"I forgot about that" she admitted looking down at the floor "But we can't have the day off and we can't just skip his lesson" she said giving me a small shrug.

"I know, but that doesn't make me want to go" I said walking away from her, it didn't take the two of us long to get ready for school, we were out of the door by the usual time of 8:15 we managed to pull out of Cat's drive today without being interrupted by Mr Miller and his stupid Pontiac.

I drove as slowly as I could get away with- without it being considered dangerous- to school, the two of us walked into the building slowly and found Robbie, Andre, Beck and Tori all stood laughing.

"Whoa" Tori said "What's wrong with you two?" she asked still laughing slightly.

"We" I said pointing between the two of us "Have Mr Miller today" I was expecting them all to sympathise but instead all we got were strange looks

"He really isn't that bad" said Tori "We had him yesterday… He was really nice" she shrugged at us, the others nodded in agreement.

"Well he's not nice to us" Cat snapped at them, which shocked us all.

"Maybe he was just in a bad mood that day" suggested Robbie mainly to Cat than anyone else

"No, he's just a horrible person in general" I said "He always cuts us off in his fucking… Pontiac as well… he is just a smug arrogant man" I stated

"Well, Jade" said Tori snottily "Maybe you have caused him to act this way"

"We did nothing wrong… We didn't act any differently to what we usually would" said Cat innocently

"So you did something wrong" joked Andre, Cat and I looked at him shocked "Look" he said levelling with us "You are both lovely girls" Tori scoffed obviously she didn't feel the same way "But, when you get together, you can be…" Andre stopped to think of the right way to describe us

"Smart asses" Beck jumped in.

"Yeah, smart asses" Andre agreed with the statement Beck had just made, Cat and I still stood looking shocked "Don't look like that… You both know just as well as anyone else does… So I'll ask once more what did you do?" he had a small smile on his face

"Fine" I snapped at them all "He wanted us to get our notebooks out and I simply said I didn't need to because we hadn't learnt anything yet… And then he started writing down random shit… he looked at us with a cocky expression and said 'Now you do need to take notes'" I did a poor attempt at imitating him.

"And then" Cat cut in finishing my sentence for me "He just acted like a dick for the rest of the lesson"

"This is surprising for you?" asked Tori "Well I'm sorry but you deserved it then" she cracked a small smile; again the others stood and nodded in agreement.

I stormed away from them, Cat followed at my heel, I wasn't having them saying that we deserved to be treat the way we were being. I turned to face Cat, who was tugging at my sleeve

"Maybe they're right" she said sounding a little guilty but still laughing

"Well I'm not going to be a kiss ass to get his approval" I said defiantly and it was true I wasn't going to be, I was going to continue acting the way I had on Monday, with or without Cat.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The day went too fast for my liking and lunch was over before I knew it meaning Cat and I had to go to our lesson with Mr Miller, today when we walked through the door he was already there sat on his desk talking to students who had turned up to his lesson early.

"Hello girls" he said when he saw us "Ready to learn today?" he asked smarmily. This was proof that he just didn't like us, we hadn't even spoken yet and already he had annoyed me, and if he held a grudge against students, he was in the wrong profession. I wasn't going to stand back and have him treat me like this without reason.

"Whatever" I said taking my seat, Cat totally blanked him as she walked past.

"That's not a good attitude to have towards learning" he said standing from his seat.

"Well" Cat started "It's only history; I'm not going to need it again… I don't even like it… It's a waste of time" I pursed my lips together to stop from laughing, I loved this side to Cat that only came out when I was around by myself with her-or if something had truly ground her gears. The other students in the class who knew of her all seemed shocked that she had said this; they sat in silence watching the scene play out.

"Well, that's not a nice thing to say about someone's profession… What if I was to turn around to you and say that your dream job was a waste of time and that I didn't like it?"

"To be honest James" she used his name, putting emphasis on it "I think it's obvious you don't like, acting or singing or else you'd be teaching that and not history." She gave him a small, shrug it was at this that I lost it and couldn't hold in the laugh any longer, it was laugh that was a mixture between finding something funny and being shocked.

His face twisted from normal to being full of rage "Well miss Valentine" he said putting his hands on the desk and bending down so his face was just inches away from Cat's "Let's see how obvious it is in detention" Cat sat looking shocked to the core-more because of how close he was to her than what he had said. I still sat beside her sniggering I covered my mouth with my hand to try and cover it up "And miss west" he said still leaning on the table except now his head was turned to face me "Let's see if it's still funny when you will be joining Miss Valentine in that detention"

"I think it'll still be pretty funny" I said shrugging he stood his jaw was tensed. A vane on his neck started to bulge out.

"Well I'll be seeing you both back here after school" Cat and I glared at him he turned his attention away from us and to the rest of the class "Okay so today we will be focusing mainly on Malcolm X" he clapped his hands together "So if you would all like to get out your text books and note books you can begin to copy from them" he put way too much emphasis on the word _everyone_ Cat and I complied to his request.

Cat kept leaning over onto my side of the desk when James wasn't looking she was writing things in my book but was covering what she was writing with her other hand. She had started a war unintentionally; if she was going to destroy my book, I would destroy hers. We both ended up moving from writing in each other's books to drawing on our arms, and hands.

Every time Mr Miller turned his attention to us, we would go back to writing in our own books, it was obvious he could hear us laughing though because everyone else could you could hear them all sighing or whispering things about us to the person next to them. He could also see the pen marks on our skin.

"I think" Mr Miller said facing the whole class as he stood at the front of the room, clutching a pen in his hand, the skin stretching around his knuckle, and turning a ghostly white. "What this class needs is a seating plan" everyone in the room began to groan and mumbled things about us under their breaths "It seems that no one can work quietly" he said this to everyone but we knew he meant us "So come tomorrow, there shall be a seating chart on the door, and each space will have a person's name, and that is where you will be sitting for the rest of the year."

"Whoops" I said quietly under my breath to Cat, who was looking saddened by what we had just heard, and I did feel a bit bad for her, because knowing her luck-she was literally the most unlucky person I had ever met. She would end up being sat next to Sinjin, who seemed to hold a candle for every girl he saw, and I could understand why he would be attracted to Cat. I decided to joke about the thought running through my mind "Hey, maybe you'll be lucky enough to be sat with Sinjin" I tapped her on the shoulder playfully.

"I don't mind, I guess, as long as he doesn't sniff me" she said holding back a laugh, even I had to admit it he was a nice guy but he could just be a bit weird sometimes.

Mr Miller heard us speaking and turned to face us "Maybe some of you would like to move seats today?" his question was obviously rhetorical but that didn't stop Cat from answering it.

"No, I'm fine thanks" she said absentmindedly shaking her head; I gave her a glare as a warning that there was a limit.

"Go stand outside" he said pointing out of the door, she stood up collecting her things and walked to the door, giving me a wave as she left "Now, Jadelyn if you would like to get some work done you can" he used my full name like it was a weapon against me, the way he these words his voice was more like a snarl; he definitely should not be in the teaching profession, the way he spoke to people…Well the way he spoke to me and Cat, it was intimidating.

I now had to spend the remainder of the class alone, sat in the front of a class room, a mere foot at the most away from a man who was truly intimidating, in every way; in size and demeanour. I looked down at my vandalized book; he followed my line of sight and saw it too

"I strongly suggest that you rip out that page and start again, you hadn't done much anyway" he said looking away from my work, it was obvious he wanted to punish me too, but sending me out wouldn't be a punishment when Cat was outside; using my full name, and making me start my work again was my punishment-along with the after school detention. I looked over his shoulder to see the top of Cat's head leaning against the window in the door, had it been any one else out there they would be trying to make me laugh, and the only reason Cat wasn't is because she was too short to see through the window.

The Bell finally Rang signalling the end of the lesson but it wasn't the last I would see of him today, as I made for the door he spoke "Jade stay for a few minutes. Get Cat too" he said writing on some paper on his desk, I opened the door and motioned Cat to come inside.

He took a deep breath "I hope to see you both here ate the end of the day don't forget" he said sternly.

"We won't" we said simultaneously.

"Good, because if you do forget and you don't turn up, I'll take a Saturday away from you" Cat and I looked at each other sharing a look of depression we couldn't have another Saturday's detention, not only was it the longest day ever, but also it went on your permanent record, and that type of stuff doesn't look good to colleges.

"I promise we won't forget" I said, he motioned us out of his room with his hand. Cat and I turned on our heels and left the room, looking at each other, we both shared a look that said 'we're screwed' we both walked to our next lesson, happy that it was with Sikowitz and not a double length lesson with James Miller. I honestly don't think I could handle a double length lesson with that man; even an hour was too long.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Cat and I walked back to Mr Millers room-after explaining that Robbie could no longer go to Cat's house due to our detention- slowly, sombrely, once we got there we gave a small knock on his door "Come in!" he bellowed, Cat and I walked through his door and stood in front of his desk "Oh please take a seat" he said pointing to the desk were the two of us sat.

"Well, what do we have to do?" I asked once I was in my seat, the room looked different when it was empty, it looked bigger, and the cream walls seemed to go on forever.

"You'll sit and write lines… In silence" he wrote on a piece of paper, making the new seating plan, drawing small rectangles and then filling them with names of the people in the class

"What do we have to write?" I asked looking straight at him, he sat back in his chair, and he pressed his fingers together and placed them on his lips.

"How about… 'I will not be insolent; I will show more respect to people' on every line over and over until each line is full… Front and back" Cat looked shocked I knew the reason was because she didn't know what the word insolent meant and she didn't know how to spell it.

I put my head down and began to write on my page, I could see Cat straining her neck to see what I had written I pushed my paper to her slightly so she could see how to spell the words that he wanted to be repeated over and over again on the paper. The room was silent, apart from the sound of breathing and our pens scratching on the paper that was laid across the desk; he had his head down, still writing his stupid chart how long did it take to decide where people would sit in a room.

It didn't take long for Cat and I to have written our lines, maybe about forty five minutes we both stood and walked over to his desk slamming the paper down on his desk "There" I said keeping my hand on my paper.

He looked up at the two of us "Front and back?" he asked sceptically.

I lifted my paper, showing him both sides, I saw Cat stood next to me doing the same, but she moved her paper round slower "Front and back" I said, laying the paper back down on his desk. Cat placed hers on top of mine; we were just about to leave when he looked at us.

"Oh and girls, let's try not to make this a regular thing okay?" His question sounded more like a threat to me, like if it happened again, it would be worse. I nodded, with a smile and left, Cat shoot the door behind her.

The drive back to Cat's was quiet; it had started to rain as we had left the school, tiny patters of rain had hit the windscreen, they had run down the glass in tiny little streaks. But by the time we reached Cat's house the rain was pelting down. We got out of the car, and the rain stung as it hit your skin. I walked into Cat's house and shook my hair, water splashed off of it. "I'm hungry" I said taking off my coat and hanging it by the door.

"Well go see what we've got then" Cat squeaked from the side of me. She had taken off her coat and shoes and was making her way over to the sofa. I walked into the kitchen my shoe squelching as I walked. I rifled through her freezer

"Do you want a pizza?" I called

"Yes" she replied, I opened the pizza and put it in the over. I walked back into the room to find Cat messing around with her phone. I sat down next to her.

"Who you texting?" I asked, trying to look down at the phone, she moved it out of my way, with a cheeky smile. I arched my eyebrows at her.

"I'm organising something with Robbie" she gave me a smug smile

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" I asked, she was starting to freak me out.

"Well I just think now you should sort something out with Beck. I'm giving Robbie a chance seen as though we had to cancel on him tonight" her voice was sweet when she finished her sentence.

"No, Cat, I've told you Beck and me…." She cut me off

"No, Jade, it's no different, okay. You like him, and he likes you, so go do something about it!" she spoke fast- well faster than usual. I sighed.

"I don't know if I can or not, Cat. What if he is over me, what if you're wrong? I'm not going to put myself on the line, in hope that a guy still likes me, why would I put myself through that?" it was her turn to sigh now.

"Jade, just trust me, okay?" her voice was softer now; she looked me in the eye, quickly before looking down at her phone to answer the message from Robbie.

"So, what are you two going to do?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"We're going to see a movie tomorrow. So you might want to find something to do like oh I don't know; maybe something with Beck." It was obvious she was going to keep pushing this. I sighed and rolled my eyes at her.

"And what am I supposed to do, go begging for him to take me back?" my tone was harsh; she hadn't done anything wrong per say- well not directly any way. "No, Cat. I can't just do that" I took a breath to calm myself down "It doesn't work that way". I stood and walked into the kitchen to check on the pizza, I turned it around on the tray, to make sure all the surface area of the pizza would be cooked, I stood in the kitchen for a little while thinking about what Cat had said. How could I let Beck know I was still interested, without putting myself on the line?


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

I contemplated for a while, weather I should make a move or not, I wanted him back I did, but I wasn't desperate, I wasn't going to go sniffing around him, letting him know he still had a hold on me. The timer on the oven dinged, I bent down and opened the door the smell of the hot pizza filled my nostrils. The chicken and the onions both smelled and looked so appealing. I cut the pizza into eight thin slices, and placed it on a plate; I carried it back through to Cat, with some drinks she smiled at the food, her eyes never leaving the plate.

I sat down on the sofa beside her, and placed the plate so it was balancing on one of my legs and one of hers, this way we both had easy access to the pizza. She took a huge bite out of one on the slices, and spoke to me with her mouth full "What time do we have History tomorrow?"

I racked my brains trying to think of what it had said on the schedule, "Erm, first period" I concluded. She placed down her bitten slice of pizza and opened her can of pop, it fizzed over the metal lip of the can slightly she brought it to her lips and sucked the froth up, before taking a long swig from the can. It didn't take us long to eat the pizza, and even though it had been a large one, we still found ourselves feeling hungry, out of sheer boredom.

We spent the night as we had all the other nights, watching the telly and eating random shit, it was silent, for a while, neither of us really having anything to talk about, we had been spending so much time together recently because of this certain situation that we knew what was happening in each other's lives.

There was no really sound-just the low hum of the quiet telly we were using as background noise-until we heard a scratching on the window of Cat's living room, the curtains had been closed while we were watching a movie, so we couldn't see what was causing the noise, we heard it again, but this time it was like nails on a blackboard the sound made all of my bones and ache and sent shivers down my spine, the noise carried on for a while, first it was short, and then it became longer, more vicious; I crawled over to the window to see what it was, as Cat had checked the door, he wouldn't suspect us coming this time we could catch him.

I moved the curtain away slowly, and peaked over the edge of the windowsill; it was him alright, tall broad shouldered his hand pressed against the window his face was unable to be made out, he wore a hoodie with the hood up and a cap under it, all that could be seen where his lips. He hadn't seen me at first but his eyes snapped up and looked straight at me, cutting into me, I backed away from the curtain.

I turned to face Cat who stood looking nervous not knowing what had happened "We need to get up stairs" I said in a hushed voice I stomped passed Cat and grabbed her wrist dragging her with me, once we go into her room we could hear banging on the door, like someone was trying to knock it down, loud heavy banging, this person wanted to get to us, and they wanted to do it fast. Thinking about why he wanted us made me feel sick, I could feel the bile rising in my throat, I sat gagging while Cat just let out heavy uncontrollable sobs.

He began to rattle to door, trying every which way to get into the house, to get to the two of us who sat, in the corner of the small bedroom. Cat had her knees pulled up to her chest and she was rocking, sobbing she had her hands covering her ears as if to stop the noise and I could hear her whimpering 'Please leave us alone; don't hurt us' over and over again.

And then we heard a loud crashing noise, and the door knob twisted, it clicked open, and heavy footsteps could be heard as he walked slowly around the room, taking in everything; I looked at Cat and then out of the window "Cat" I whispered making sure he couldn't hear us, she still sat rocking in her seat. I grabbed her wrists and pulled her hands away from her ears, "You need to get out of here"

I could hear his heavy footsteps walking round the down stairs of her house. She shook her head, tears clouding her brown eyes. "Yes" I whispered through gritted teeth.

"I can't leave you" she croaked. I sighed knowing there was no point in arguing with her. I pulled my phone from my pocket, and handed it to her

"Hide in your closet, ring the police, but you have to stay there okay" I explained to her, she nodded and complied with my request, she crawled to her closet, and shut herself in, I could hear him, still searching the downstairs part of the house, I stood up and crept downstairs, to keep him from coming up, and possibly finding Cat.

I could see him in the kitchen, searching the all the drawers, I made a sudden movement on the bottom step, attracting his attention, he turned on his heel. His face still covered by his clothing, he walked towards me, his footing heavy. I recognised the way he walked, with a slight arrogance about him. I could feel his eyes roaming my body. He pulled down his hood and took off his hat revealing his face.

I couldn't believe that Mr Miller was stood in front of me. I could feel the bile rising into my throat; I gagged a little, but swallowed back the vomit that had surfaced in my mouth. I stood frozen to the spot, he approached me calmly, but that didn't stop my heart from racing more fiercely than ever.

"You?" I asked, not exactly intelligent, but it was the only thing I could think at this moment in time, he nodded, a small sleazy smile pulled up the corners of his mouth. I shook my head "But, the cars…" I started.

"I have two, well I say 'I' one of them is my wife's"

"You have a wife?" I asked, arching my eyebrow. He nodded again, before looking around the room shortly.

I could feel tears burning my eyes. There was about a foot or so between us, his eyes found my face, brown eyes cutting into mine. "Where's our little friend?" he asked, his voice seemed different than before, a lot gravellier, and much more full of venom.

"She's not here" I lied choking on my words.

"Really?" He asked doubtfully "Why is she not in her own home?"

"She had to go out" I said, swallowing hard once more, he took a step closer to me, closing the gap. His eyes looked around the room, as if she would magically appear in one of the crevices of the room. Another step forward. He kept getting closer, and closer, until we were stood face to face, I could feel his warm breath hitting my skin. _Fight or flight. _I thought to myself, I used the ball of my hand and jarred it against his nose; blood instantaneously began to flow out of it. I ran past him, and headed for the kitchen, I felt his arms wrap around me pulling me back.

I was amazed at how fast he had caught up to me. He pushed me against the wall, holding me there by my shoulders; his grip was as tight as a vice. I gulped, I could hear my heart beating in my chest, I silently prayed for the police to show up at any minute, hoping that Cat had already rung them.

I could feel the pressure of his grip starting to bruise the skin already. His face was close to mine, once more I could feel his warm breath on my face it smelt strongly of liquor. It turned my stomach. His face was crawling with anger, aggression, what had caused him to go this far?

"I've been watching you for a while" he whispered in my ear, I could feel his nose, against my jaw as he spoke. I couldn't stop the tears; they rolled down my face, dropping at my jaw. He breathed heavily; the smell of liquor once again filled my nose, and clung to the insides of my nostrils. I gagged again, the cause of the gag, was a mixture between the comment and the smell

"Why?" I questioned, trying to keep my voice calm, it didn't work each word trembled as they left my lips.

"Because I thought you would be interesting, both of you" his voice was louder now, as he moved his head so he was looking into my eyes. "You've proven that, they way you're personalities change when you think no one else can see you, the way you influence each other"

"Just how long have you been watching us for?" I asked I needed to know.

"A few month, but you had never seen me, until the night camping." his grip tightened and he pushed me, as if he could get me to further back. It angered him to know we had seen him, I could tell that much jut by his expression.

I felt disgusted, I couldn't handle him breathing on me anymore, and I sure as hell couldn't stand him touching me; I raised my knee pulling it up to his groin. This cause him to let go and double over, he made choking, noises, I headed back for the kitchen, and pulled on the drawers, searching for the best thing I could use as self-defence.

I found a small, knife, it was small enough to hide from his view, but if I used it, it would make a great impact, and if I needed to use it, I would. I placed it in the band of my jeans, the cool blade touching my skin I covered the handle with my shirt, to make sure the whole thing was concealed. I turned round to see him walking towards me, both injuries I had caused him were still evident, he still had a small amount of blood coming from his nose, the rest had dried up around the edges, and he wasn't moving as fast he had before.

He cornered me again, in Cat's small kitchen, my back pressed against the kitchen counter. I felt slightly more at ease knowing that I had the knife, if needed, but at the same time, fear laced around my thoughts _What if he knows about the knife? What if he uses it on me? I couldn't win him in a battle of strength if he fought it off me_. My thoughts were conflicting with each other, making it much harder for me to concentrate on his next move.

He grabbed hold of my neck, just under my jaw, not putting on enough pressure to choke me, but just enough to stifle my breathing slightly. He ran his thumb across my bottom lip gently, and looked in to my eyes.

"You're not going to get away with this" I said, my voice shaking due to the position of his hand, keeping the eye contact, not wanting to back down. He let out a smug laugh, and looked down to his feet before looking back into my eyes.

"And why is that?" he asked, putting a lot of effort on each letter.

My heart thudded in my chest "Because everything comes to light in the end" I said, I had a slight amount of bravado in my voice, letting him know I was confident.

His jaw tensed, at my comment, and he tightened his grip around my jaw slightly.

I heard cars speeding up the street and so did he, his head whipped around to the door, I could see blue and red flashing lights around the room, A smug smile crept along my face ad he turned back to face me slowly, his face looked horrified, I slipped out the blade, and held it raised up close to his neck.

The police kicked open the door, it thudded on the wall as it swung violently. They all held guns out in front of them, after the bang Cat appeared at the top of the stairs and ran down to the bottom of them. One of the police men I recognised as Mr Vega, he stood further into the house than the others, it was strange to see him dressed in his police uniform.

I looked at Mr Miller and laughed, it was caused by the adrenalin, and nerves. I lowered the knife, knowing I no longer needed it. I looked at him, as his hand slipped from around my face. I arched my eyebrow at him smugly; he turned his head to see the door. He swallowed harshly.

"Hands up where we can see them!" demanded Mr Vega, his voice wasn't as friendly as usual, this was also a shocking way to see him; being demanding, and aggressive.

Mr Miller complied putting his hands up and then placing them on the back of his head. He turned to face the men at the door, so that he had his back to me. I skirted around him to meet Cat on the stairs, keeping the knife in my hands.

I grabbed Cat's hand. We both stood shaking, looking into the face of Mr Miller, a man that had not only followed us, and been watching us, but he had gone so far as to get a teaching job at our school.

He was lead out of the house by the other police officers while Mr Vega stayed to talk to me and Cat about what had happened, It didn't take us long to relay everything. He contacted our parents; my mum was on her way over while Cat's mum dad and brother were traveling back into town. Cat, would be spending the night at my house, as the lock had been busted on the door, also we were under instructions to do so, due to the trauma of the events.

It was while Mr Vega was outside instructing the other officers that I really thought about what had happened, if they hadn't turned up when they did, how far would James Miller have gone, the thought made me shudder. I was just happy that now everything had been brought into the light, and Cat and I could start to move on from the darkest part of our lives.

_**A/N: **__The final chapter. I hope that this wasn't an anti -climax to the story. Thank you to everyone who has stuck with this story and read it to the end, and thank you to everyone who reviewed, your comments spurred me on to continue to write this story. _

_Thanks so much, I hope you have enjoyed reading this story. _


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